A   PARISIAN    IN   AMERICA 


A  PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA 


BY 

S.    C.    DE    SOISSONS 

AUTHOR  OK 
"BOSTON  ARTISTS" 


BOSTON 
ESTES    AND    LAURIAT 

PUBLISHERS 


Co/>y riff/it,  /Sg6 
BY  ESTES  AND  LAURIAT 


8To  f^er  fHajestg,  tfje  American 


Mr.  W.  D.  Howells  said  once  that  in  America 
a  book's  fate  is  in  the  hands  of  the  women. 

"If  they  do  not  know  what  is  good,"  said  he, 
"they  do  know  what  pleases  them,  and  it  is  use- 
less to  quarrel  with  their  decisions,  for  there  is 
no  appeal  from  them." 

Besides  being  a  great  admirer  of  her  sex  —  as 
without  woman  civilization  would  be  impossible 
—  I  also  have  an  exalted  opinion  of  her  good 
taste  and  exquisite  refinement,  and,  therefore,  I 
entrust  the  fortunes  of  this  book  to  her  gentle 

hands-  S.  C.  de  SOISSONS. 

Ncivport,  July  15,  1895. 


"And  from  his  native  land  resolved  to  go, 

And  visit  scorching  climes  beyond  the  sea  : 
With  pleasure  drugged  he  almost  longed  for  wo, 
And  e^ en  for  change  of  scene  would  seek  the  shades  below." 


CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 

I.     WOMAN i 

II.     MEN  IN  AMERICA 24 

III.  FRANCE  IN  AMERICA 52 

IV.  MILLIONAIRES 73 

V.     AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS 102 

VI.  THE  IDEAL  OF  THE  AMERICANS   ....  126 

VII.     COLUMBIAN  FAIR 131 

VIII.     ART 144 

IX.     ARCHITECTURE 159 

X.     LITERATURE 174 

XL     Music 186 

XII.     PROTESTANTISM 194 

XIII.  SECTS 203 

XIV.  IMMIGRATION 215 

XV.     ORIGINALITY 226 

XVI.     NEW  ENGLAND 235 

XVII.     CONCLUSION 245 


INTRODUCTION. 

IT  was  in  the  afternoon  of  the  tenth  of  Septem- 
ber, 1889;  I  was  sitting  in  the  room  which 
looks  out  upon  the  Opera,  in  the  Cafe  de  la  Paix, 
sipping  with  my  friend,  Baron  de  Pierpont,  a  glass 
of  old  Madeira,  when  we  perceived,  coming  in, 
Viscount  de  Maupeou,  conductor  of  the  cotillion, 
celebrated  in  the  Faubourg  St.  Germain,  who  had 
disappeared,  we  thought,  from  Parisian  life. 

"  Well,  where  do  you  come  from  ? "  said  I. 
"  Have  you  been  to  the  North  Pole  ? " 

"  Vous  riy  ctcs  pas,  mon  cher,  I  have  been  to 
the  antipodes." 

"  What !  You  have  been  in  the  country  of 
millionaires;  oh!  that's  pscJiutt  ! — Voyons  !  tell 
us  something  about  it." 

"I  can't,"  said  he,  "for  the  simple  reason  that 
I  went  only  to  New  York,  and  since  I  found 
Gotham,  as  those  Yankees  call  this  Mecca  of  all 
possible  nations,  very  dirty,  I  did  not  think  it 
would  be  agreeable  to  continue  my  wanderings 
farther.  So  I  came  back,  and  me  voila  sur  les 
boulevards." 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

I  was  amazed  by  this  bold  statement  of  my 
elegant  friend,  especially  as  I  had  heard  from 
Miss  Merrill,  a  very  cJiic  American  girl,  with 
whom  I  had  often  waltzed  last  season,  about  the 
splendor  of  the  American  world  ;  I  determined  to 
see  with  my  own  eyes  who  was  right  —  and  that 
is  the  reason  why  I  am  in  this  country. 

Se  non  £  vcro  £  ben  trovato,  and  everybody  will 
accept  more  easily  my  motive  for  coming  to 
America,  than  they  will  the  motive  of  a  certain 
Gascon,  who,  at  a  banquet  of  the  French  colony 
in  Boston,  said  : 

"After  the  Franco -Prussian  War  there  were 
only  two  men  in  France  :  myself  and  Gambetta. 
France  was  too  small  for  both  of  us,  just  as  the 
Roman  Empire  was  too  small  for  two  Caesars,  so 
I  left  my  country  and  found  myself  in  America." 

Surely  investigation  is  a  better  motive  than 
conceit. 

Of  course  I  was  acquainted  with  the  economic 
forces  of  this  immensely  rich  country,  from  the 
letters  written  and  published  some  ten  years  ago, 
by  my  friend  and  distinguished  economist,  M.  de 
Molinari ;  I  found  an  excellent  explanation  of  the 
effects  of  democracy  on  manners  and  on  the  work- 
ing of  the  governmental  machinery  by  my  study 
of  the  great  work  of  Alexis  de  Tocqueville ;  I 


INTRODUCTION.  xi 

knew  the  exact  means  and  appliances  by  which 
in  America  freedom  is  preserved  from  generation 
to  generation,  against  the  encroachments  of  polit- 
ical power  and  the  storms  of  popular  passions, 
from  the  writings  of  M.  Adolphe  de  Chambrun ; 
finally,  I  knew  from  Paris  en  Amerique,  by  my 
professor,  M.  Laboulaye,  that  America  has  the 
best  fire  department  in  the  world  ;  of  its  richness 
of  vegetation  and  marvels  of  landscape  I  learned 
from  the  brilliant  pages  of  Count  de  Chateaubri- 
and ;  the  grandson  of  Madame  de  Stael,  Count 
d'Haussonville,  in  evening  dress  of  faultless  cut, 
with  immaculate  linen,  with  a  gardenia  in  his 
buttonhole,  and  gloves  of  most  fashionable  hue, 
guided  by  a  detective  toward  the  slums  of  the 
Bowery,  through  the  narrow  aisles  and  dirty 
courtyards  of  the  Jewish  quarter  in  New  York, 
had  described  these  features  to  me  most  vividly ; 
the  most  serious  and  dignified  aspects  of  America 
were  set  forth  in  the  heavy  work  of  James  Bryce, 
while  the  sparkling  wit  of  Max  O'Rell  furnished 
me  all  the  anecdotes  of  Chauncey  Depew,  and 
told  me  as  well  how  many  millionaires  there  are 
in  America. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  all  these  sources  of  knowl- 
edge, I  wanted  to  see  for  myself  this  Puritanic 
country  where,  according  to  Charles  Dickens,  the 


xii  INTRODUCTION. 

legs  of  pianos  are  modestly  covered,  and  where 
one  can  be  married  and  divorced  in  twenty-four 
hours. 

And  what  I  wanted  to  see,  before  all  else,  was 
the  American  woman  —  "The  Queen  of  the  United 
States,"  the  despotic  ruler  of  these  free  people, 
who  do  not  suffer  any  supremacy,  but  tolerate, 
nevertheless,  with  sweet  smiles,  the  tyranny  of 
several  millions  of  the  fair  sex. 

To  my  great  satisfaction  I  found  the  American 
woman  not  only  fin-de-sttcle,  but  even  more  than 
that  — fin-de-globe  ! 


A    PARISIAN    IN    AMERICA, 


CHAPTER    I. 

WOMAN. 

A  STRANGE  phenomenon  which  I  have  ob- 
served is,  that  notwithstanding  her  promi- 
nent position  in  the  social  life  of  this  country, 
woman  does  not  occupy,  as  it  seems,  the  same 
great  place  in  the  hearts,  minds,  imagination,  and 
passion  of  the  American  artists  and  poets. 

In  the  first  place,  among  the  many  American 
painters,  there  are  only  a  few  who  paint  women. 
Kenyon  Cox  represents  her  — 

"In  the  pride  of  her  beauty," 

as  Byron  says  ;  he  admires  in  her  those  graceful 
and  exquisite  lines  of  beauty,  which  appeal  more 
strongly  to  the  artist  than  to  her  "  proud  lord." 

Thomas  W.  Dewing  has  succeeded  in  giving  us 
pictures  of  woman  that  might  stand  for  the  ideal 


2  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA 

American  type.  He  represents  beautiful  ladies, 
mostly  mature  women  of  thirty. 

He  has  lived  for  a  time  in  New  England,  and 
those  tall,  languid  girls  of  Puritan  descent,  en- 
tirely out  of  place  in  the  prosaic,  tight-buttoned, 
keep-up-your-appearance  society,  have  undoubtedly 
left  a  lasting  impression  upon  him.  Their  long, 
erect  necks,  blonde  hair,  pale,  wistful  faces,  with 
prominent  noses,  and  their  well-modelled  lips,  must 
have  a  strange  fascination  for  the  painter.  Also 
as  models  they  must  possess  a  peculiar  charm. 
Their  build  is  firm  and  round,  mature  around  the 
hips,  with  undeveloped  busts,  natural  waist,  and 
an  increased  length  from  hip  to  knee,  as  a  strik- 
ing peculiarity. 

Still  a  few  years  ago  they  lived  in  Boston,  in 
the  old  haunts  of  the  New  England  bourgeoisie, 
around  Chester  Park,  but  now,  like  the  Dryads, 
they  have  fled  before  the  invasion  of  boarding- 
house  civilization. 

Pictures  representing  nude  women,  by  Mr. 
Davies,  are  not  known  on  account  of  hypocritical 
ideas,  but  they  are  keen  studies  of  womanhood. 

Of  course  other  painters,  as  Tarbell,  Sargent, 
and  Chase,  sometimes  represent  woman,  but  they 
display  the  beauty  of  her  toilet,  rather  than  of  her 
body. 


WOMAN.  3 

The  same  strange  phenomenon  is  observed 
among  American  statuaries  :  St.  Gaudens,  H.  H. 
Kitson,  Proctor,  Dallin,  are  famous  chiefly  for  the 
boldness  of  their  works  representing  man  and  not 
woman. 

I  have  before  me  a  book,  entitled  "  Songs  of 
Three  Centuries,"  edited  by  John  G.  Whittier,  for 
the  use  of  the  American  public. 

This  volume  contains  several  hundred  poetical 
compositions  of  the  world -renowned  American 
poets,  but  only  a  few,  and  those  very  tame  and 
insignificant  poems,  are  inspired  by  woman. 

Take  the  complete  edition  of  your  greatest 
poets :  the  same  fact,  the  very  small  place  given  to 
woman,  strikes  you  immediately.  Certainly  Long- 
fellow's "  Evangeline "  pays  high  homage  to 
woman  for  her  constant  faith  in  love,  but  he 
sings  of  sentiment  rather  than  of  her  physical 
beauty. 

"  Ah  !    She  was  fair,  exceedingly  fair  to   behold,   as   she 

stood  with 
Naked    snow-white    feet   on    the    gleaming    floor    of   her 

chamber !  " 

This  is  all  that  he  said  about  her  physical 
beauty. 


4  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

To  his  idyl  of  old  colonial  times  he  gives  the 
name,  "  The  Courtship  of  Miles  Standish,"  still 
keeping  the  woman  well  out  of  sight.  Pretty 
Priscilla  occupies  a  very  small  place  in  it. 

My  assertion  as  to  the  inferior  place  which 
your  writers  have  accorded  to  woman  might 
require  a  volume  of  proof;  but  I  prefer  to  turn 
the  attention  of  my  readers  to  Europe,  and  espe- 
cially to  France,  to  Paris,  where  woman  is  at 
her  apotheosis,  in  thousands  of  pictures,  statues 
and  poems,  written,  sculptured,  and  painted  in 
her  worship. 

Some,  who  prefer  to  admire  the  costumes  of 
Redfern  and  Worth,  and  the  hats  of  Heitz-Boyer, 
instead  of  God's  masterpiece,  cry  out  against  this 
profusion  of  the  nude  ;  but  these  Philistines  seem 
to  forget  that  the  masterpiece  of  Titian  is  a  nude 
figure.  So  is  the  masterpiece  of  Correggio,  and, 
in  our  own  times,  the  masterpiece  of  Ingres.  The 
nude  is  a  definite  standard  by  which  are  measured 
the  knowledge  and  genius  of  the  painter. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  sculptor.  Falguiere 
became  famous  only  by  his  sculptures  of  women. 

Then  why,  —  why  do  American  poets,  painters, 
and  sculptors  refuse  to  worship  the  American 
woman,  before  whom  the  whole  country  is  on  its 
knees  ? 


WOMAN.  5 

An  explanation  of  this  fact  would  be  to  consider 
it  one  of  those  strange  things  which  can  be  ac- 
counted for  only  by  referring  it  to  some  pecu- 
liarity of  the  land  in  which  one  lives,  just  as  the 
Greeks  were  compelled  to  admire  the  nude  in  all 
its  splendor,  as  the  most  finished  masterpiece  of 
nature. 

The  names  of  Homer  and  Victor  Hugo,  who 
chanted  the  praises  of  feminine  beauty,  will  re- 
main forever  written  in  letters  of  light,  will  dom- 
inate the  ages  and  render  Greece  and  France 
immortal  when  other  countries  shall  have  been 
lost  to  the  memory  of  mankind  ! 

Yes !  Let  us  all  sing  as  a  religious  hymn,  pure 
as  the  incense  before  the  altar,  the  praises  of 
feminine  beauty,  which  comes  to  us  as  a  fleeting 
and  charming  dream,  and  brings  only  loveliness 
and  purity. 

O  woman  !  Most  beautiful  creation  in  all  of 
Nature's  realms,  'tis  thus  you  come  forth  from  the 
distant  dreams  of  my  youth ! 

"  The  might  —  the  majesty  of  loveliness  !  " 

In  America,  they  are  far  from  being  the  senti- 
mental and  tender  heroines  of  some  European 
countries,  timid  and  submissive  young  girls, 
pretty  society  women,  lazy,  languid,  living  on  the 


0  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

tea  of  sentiment,  and  dreaming  —  until  they  die  of 
it  —  of  aristocratic  and  forbidden  love. 

This  gracious  hive  of  women,  so  fair,  so  deli- 
cate, too  ideal  perhaps,  like  Shakespeare's  Ophelia, 
but  worthy  of  adoration,  however,  is  replaced  by 
a  solid  little  battalion  of  modern  women.  The 
American  woman  is  neither  languishing,  nor  ro- 
mantic ;  she  lives  on  rare  meat  and  live  doings, 
and  does  n't  have  much  time  for  dreaming ;  she 
is  vigorous  and  practical,  sometimes  complicated, 
provided,  however,  that  complication  does  not  turn 
her  from  her  aim.  She  has  much  head,  but  little 
heart.  She  cares  less  to  be  beautiful  than  do 
the  women  in  certain  European  countries,  but  she 
wishes  much  more  to  have  brains.  She  is  also 
more  susceptible  to  goodness,  honesty,  and  friend- 
ship. 

She  does  admit  that  the  men  like  to  live  in  her 
intimacy  and  like  her  society,  without  throwing 
themselves  at  her  feet,  through  love.  Her  co- 
quetry is  very  stylish,  without  any  insignificant 
grimaces  or  childish  language. 

And  then,  love  plays  a  very  little  part  in  the 
life  of  the  American  woman.  In  older  time  it 
was  the  only  occupation  of  woman  ;  to-day,  her 
occupations  are  diversified. 

The  times  when  the  feeble  and  fair  creatures, 


WOMAN.  7 

stretched  out  in  hammocks  and  couches,  dreamed 
of  the  "spoony"  pressings  of  hands,  which  oc- 
curred to  them  days  before,  have  passed  away. 
Modern  woman,  especially  the  American  type,  has 
no  time  to  dream.  Horses,  tennis,  hunting,  gar- 
den parties,  skating,  etc.,  etc.,  absorb  all  of  her 
time  without  leaving  a  moment  of  day-dreaming. 

Little  by  little,  then,  man  was  obliged  to  re- 
nounce the  role  of  protector,  so  dear  to  his 
vanity  in  Europe ;  since  the  American  woman, 
fencing,  boxing,  swimming,  rowing,  marching, 
feeling  herself  full  of  suppleness  and  elasticity, 
does  not  care  for  protection. 

The  American  woman  does  not  allow  herself  to 
be  carried  over  the  brook,  —  she  jumps  over  it,  and 
often  more  cleverly  than  those  to  whom  she  would 
be  obliged  to  trust  herself  otherwise.  She  is  also, 
if  not  more  intelligent,  at  least  more  "personal." 
Her  house,  her  conversation,  her  dresses,  are  not 
copied  exactly  after  the  dress,  conversation  and 
house  of  her  neighbor  on  the  left,  and  in  turn 
would  not  be  copied  by  her  neighbor  on  the  right. 
Only  parvenues  and  stupids  follow  slavishly  the 
fashion  without  a  care  to  know  whether  the  fash- 
ion is  pretty. 

She  does  not  consider  love  as  her  sole  affair, 
and  she  does  not  repeat  with  Schiller : 


8  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"  O  das  sie  ewig  griinen  bliebe 
Die  schbne  Zeit  der  ersten  Liebe." 

Why  ?  Because  she  loves  more  often  and 
quickly,  and  she  prefers  to  repeat  with  her  own 
poet : 

"  I  knew,  I  knew  it  could  not  last ; 
'Twas  bright,  'twas  heavenly  —  but  'tis  past." 

The  American  woman  is  generally  gracious, 
elegant,  renssic.  She  likes  to  remain  fresh  and 
young,  and  to  please  a  long  time  after  the  "  limit 
of  age." 

She  is  artistic,  refined,  and  cultivated  also  ;  she 
is  willing  to  look  and  listen,  and  oftentimes  she 
really  understands  the  artistic.  There  is  no  lack 
of  "  woman  painters,"  but  there  is  a  lacking  of 
"paintings  by  woman." 

If  one  leave  in  the  shadow  certain  exceptions, 
one  will  see  that  a  modern  American  woman  is 
charming  and  almost  superior  to  the  majority  of 
European  women.  She  is  more  amusing,  more 
frank,  more  funny,  —  and  has  infinite  variety ; 
she  is  more  serious  also.  She  likes  noise  and 
pleasure ;  cliiffons  and  even  love  ;  she  likes  chil- 
dren, too,  —  but  not  too  many  of  them.  One 
may  even  say  that  she  prefers  other  people's 


WOMAN.  9 

children  ;  but  she  makes  a  good,  intelligent,  and 
affectionate  mother. 

It  is  related  that  Demosthenes,  subdued  by  a 
woman,  said :  "  That  which  he  thought  in  a 
year,  a  woman  overturned  in  a  night."  The 
history  of  Greek  woman  would  be  almost  the 
history  of  Greece ;  and  in  America,  as  in  France, 
the  history  which  does  not  follow  woman  loses 
its  way. 

There  is  a  descending  ladder :  on  the  top  in  the 
White  House  we  see  the  influence  of  a  woman  ; 
not  far  from  the  heights  we  find  a  woman  forcing 
men  to  vote  on  the  no-license  question.  Wher- 
ever she  appears  she  dictates  the  laws,  she  im- 
poses her  fancies,  she  urges  her  despotism. 

An  American  writer,  Mr.  O.  F.  Adams,  says 
that  American  democracy,  the  pretended  apostles 
of  equality,  the  levellers  of  privileges,  have  fin- 
ished by  establishing  inequality  for  the  benefit  of 
woman,  by  making  her  a  privileged  person  par 
excellence,  and,  reversing  the  Asiatic  conception, 
have  made  her  a  despot,  and  men  her  subjects. 

The  American  woman  is  always  in  the  fashion, 

—  no  matter  what  she  may  do,  —  no  matter  what 

the  barbarism  of  her  dress  may  be.      It  is  seldom 

that  she  adorns  her  dress,  —  it  is  the  dress  that 

adorns  her. 


10  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  Queen  promised  to  the  bride  of  Prince 
Geraint  that  she  — 

"  Will  clothe  her  for  her  bridals  like  the  sun." 

For  the  American  woman  every  day  is  her 
"bridals."  Every  day  she  shines  like  the  sun; 
more,  the  sun  does  not  shine  in  the  night,  while 
the  American  is  still  prettier  in  her  light  evening 
dress. 

"When  I  was  about  twelve  years  old,"  said  a 
young  girl  to  me,  "  I  dreamed  of  receiving  from 
my  pa  a  diamond  ring,  sealskin  jacket,  and  money 
for  a  trip  to  Europe.  I  have  the  ring  and  jacket 
already,  and  I  expect  to  go  to  Europe  soon." 

In  fact,  all  American  girls  dream  of  these  three 
things. 

.  The  beauty  of  the  American  woman  is  fascinat- 
ing ;  but  this  beauty,  which  lasts  only  three  sea- 
sons with  a  German  woman,  lasts  a  quarter  of  a 
century  with  an  American  woman. 

The  American  woman  is  not  beautiful  from  a 
sculptural  point  of  view.  If  a  painter  had  a  mag- 
ical palette  he  might  make  her  beautiful  ;  he 
would  find  in  her  the  beginnings  of  all  beauties  ; 
she  is  neither  from  the  North,  nor  from  the  South  ; 
she  blends  the  paleness  of  the  snow  with  the 


WOMAN.  I  I 

olive  of  the  sun.  She  has  the  composite  grace  of 
the  American  eye,  the  German  romanticism,  the 
English  gluttony,  Sevillian  petulance,  Italian  brio ; 
she  is  all ;  that  is  to  say,  enchantment,  surprise, 
malice,  coquetry,  abandon  ;  she  has  all  the  virtues 
of  woman  ;  but,  perhaps,  she  is  also  a  cleverly-set 
snare. 

It  is  from  the  sources  of  universal  and  physical 
beauty  that  the  American  woman  has  drawn  her 
charms.  Her  father  and  mother,  united  when 
young  in  marriage  for  love,  have  transmitted  the 
gifts  which  nature  lavishes  upon  the  children  of 
youth  and  of  love.  Then,  too,  immigration  has 
introduced  a  new  factor,  a  factor  which  has  modi- 
fied and  not  deformed  the  primitive  type. 

"The  Hibernian,  French,  Italian,  German  strains, 
mingled  in  her  veins  with  the  blood  of  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  have  tempered  with  vivacity  or  with 
morbidczza,  with  grace  or  with  languor,  the  set- 
tled characteristics  which  she  has  inherited  from 
her  ancestors.  So  one  can  find  in  this  country 
nearly  every  kind  of  plastic  beauty,  —  the  voluptu- 
ous nonchalance  of  the  Creole,  the  aristocratic 
purity  of  lines  of  the  Englishwoman,  the  expres- 
sive and  changeable  physiognomy  of  the  French- 
woman, the  dazzling  complexion  of  the  Irish  girl. 
(This  is  the  country  of  delicate  complexions. 


I  2  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

There  are  very  good  ones  in  England,  in  Holland  ; 
but  they  are  very  apt  to  be  coarse.  There  is  too 
much  red.)" 

From  those  different  nationalities  she  has  bor- 
rowed the  characteristic  excellence  of  each  ;  youth 
and  love  have  done  their  work  of  elimination, 
since,  as  we  must  remember,  marriage  in  the 
United  States  is  the  result  of  an  instinctive  affin- 
ity, much  more  than  in  other  countries. 

Her  penchant  pushes  her  to  cleanliness,  but 
still  she  does  not  die  when  she  sees  her  white 
tunic  soiled,  as  does  the  ermine ;  she  prefers 
to  change  it,  if  possible,  for  a  gold  dress. 

She  likes  to  dress  her  hair,  to  perfume  it  with  in- 
toxicating fragrance,  to  brush  her  pink  nails,  to  cut 
them  in  the  form  of  almonds,  and  to  bathe  often. 

She  does  not  like  marriage,  because  it  tends  to 
spoil  her  figure,  but  she  delivers  herself  up  to  it 
because  it  promises  happiness.  If  children  come 
it  is  by  chance  only. 

When  I  told  Miss  X—  -  that  I  intended  to 
write  of  American  women,  she  said  to  me : 

"You  must  not  forget  one  thing." 

"What  one?"  I  asked,  anxiously. 

"  You  must  not  forget  our  grandmothers." 

"  Your  grandmothers  ? 


WOMAN.  1 3 

"Well,  I  will  explain  to  you  what  I  mean  :  the 
other  day  my  mother  was  telling  a  mutual  friend 
that  their  dear  Mrs.  F—  -  had  a  baby. 

"'Ah!'  exclaimed  the  friend,  'how  happy  the 
baby's  grandmother  will  be  ! ' ' 

Are  you  "  in  it,"  my  charming  readers  ? 
Would  you  agree  with  your  enthusiastic  admirer, 
that  your  mothers,  and,  perhaps,  even  more,  your 
grandmothers,  like  children  better  than  you  do  ? 

And  why  ?     I  pray  you. 

You  who  admire  Napoleon  the  First,  you  who 
know  his  history  better  than  that  of  any  other 
European  hero,  who  go  by  thousands  to  visit  his 
majestic  tomb,  forget  what  he  said  about  woman, 
when  asked  by  Madame  de  Stael  what  woman  he 
admired  the  most  : 

"  Madame,"  was  the  reply  of  this  great  general 
and  deep  thinker,  "the  woman  who  has  the  most 
children." 

Of  course,  it  is  an  old  story,  but  it  is  a  good 
one.  If  I  were  a  preacher,  I  would  often  deliver 
sermons  upon  the  text  : 

"  Qui  Jiabitarc  stcrilem  in  domo  facit,  matrem 
filiontm  lest 'ante m." 

The  American  woman  does  not  know  snobbism, 


14  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

that  moral  sickness  of  all  time ;  her  gracious  affa- 
bility puts  everybody  at  ease,  assuring  the  timid 
ones  and  encouraging  the  silent. 

She  knows  many  things,  not  only  by  intuition, 
as  the  women  of  other  nations,  but  also  by  study, 
appropriating  to  herself  the  literature  and  poetry 
of  all  nations,  and  showing  in  all  the  intense  life 
which  is  in  her. 

She  likes  to  travel  continually  —  it  is  for  her 
a  necessity  and  happiness.  It  is  a  traditional  in- 
stinct of  her  people,  with  a  taste  for  the  nomadic, 
which  recalls  the  large  plains,  the  great  forests, 
the  melancholy  rivers,  and  gray  sands  of  their  own 
country,  and  causes  them  to  feel  crowded. 

Her  nature  is  impressionable  for  all  kinds  of 
pleasure  ;  she  is  lively,  often  fantastic,  and  vehe- 
ment as  a  girl. 

She  is  well  equipped  for  the  combat  in  which 
she  must  engage  in  this  country. 

"As  a  child,  the  school  is  open  to  her,  and  from 
the  earliest  age  her  sex  and  her  charms  win  for 
her  protection  and  admirers  among  her  school- 
mates. As  a  young  girl  she  has  complete  control 
of  herself.  As  a  wife,  divorce  permits  her  to 
break  the  oppressing  chains." 

Public  opinion  follows  her,  and  protects  her  in 
all  the  successive  halting-places  of  her  life. 


WOMAN.  1 5 

Twice  a  queen,  the  power  at  her  command  in- 
toxicates her ;  the  worship  that  men  render  to 
her,  the  homage  that  they  pay  her,  justify,  in  her 
eyes,  her  caprices  and  her  demands. 

"  Assured  of  respectful  treatment  by  all  men, 
certain  to  find  in  every  man,  no  matter  who  he  is, 
a  protector  and  defender,  feeling  that  she  confers 
a  favor  by  asking  a  service,  she  carries  herself 
with  ease  in  an  atmosphere  of  gallantry,  a  gal- 
lantry which  is  extended  more  to  her  sex  than  to 
her  individuality,  and  she  does  not  hesitate  to 
claim  all  the  privileges." 

The  insatiable  dream  of  fortune  occupies  her 
soul,  and  her  ambition  takes  from  her,  from  the 
beginning  of  her  life,  the  power  to  love. 

Very  often  she  is  beautiful ;  she  is  a  great 
charmer  always,  as  she  has  the  consciousness  of 
her  strength ;  her  thoughts  cannot  be  divined 
from  her  expression,  but,  if  she  wishes,  she  has 
the  caressing  sweetness  of  voice  with  which  she 
captivates  you  ;  she  is  a  precipice  covered  with 
flowers  ! 

She  preserves  her  deceiving  quietness  even 
when  moved  by  hatred  ;  and,  in  deepest  calcula- 
tions, she  follows  her  way  with  an  air  of  candor, 
sowing  discords  which  are  useful  to  her,  and  never 
losing  sight  of  her  object. 


1 6  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

She  is  very  practical  in  her  home  life  and  works 
—  more  than  the  European  woman  ;  nowhere  do 
you  see  so  many  girls  working  for  their  living,  and 
often  only  to  have  more  money  to  spend,  as  you 
see  in  America.  This  struggle  for  life,  this  con- 
tinuous contact  with  men  in  business  offices  all 
day  long,  the  gymnastic  exercises  so  much  prac- 
tised in  this  country  by  the  women,  even  of  the 
best  society,  impart  to  the  American  woman  a 
certain  masculine  character,  which  is  evident  in 
her  movements,  in  her  manners,  and  in  her 
energy. 

Her  movements  are  original,  so  different  from 
the  movements  of  European  women  !  How  lovely 
is  the  undulation  of  her  body !  How  pretty  is  the 
swinging  of  her  arms  ! 

You  know,  and  if  not,  you  will  know,  the  whim 
of  M.  Marivaux,  who  was  one  evening  in  bad 
humour  :  "  It  is  impossible  to  escape  from  the 
daughters  of  Eve.  And  yet,  if  one  would  look  at 
them  fixedly  from  a  certain  side,  they  would 
appear  too  ridiculous  to  make  any  impression  on 
our  hearts ;  they  would  cease  to  be  amiable  and  be 
no  more  than  necessary." 

But  it  is  just  this  necessity  that  makes  the 
gentle  sex  so  much  a  reality,  and  it  is  not  neces- 


WOMAN.  1 7 

sary  to  look  from  a  "  Certain  side"  as  the  author 
of  " Fansses  Confidences"  has  said. 

The  American  woman  has  understood  the 
secret  of  domination  better  than  any  woman  from 
any  other  country.  She  understands  the  charm 
that  dominates  us,  that  makes  us  her  slaves,  the 
tenderness  that  bewitches  us,  the  exigency  that 
makes  us  extremely  fond  of  her. 

She  is  at  every  turn  the  stimulant  and  main- 
spring ;  for  her  we  lose  ourselves  and  we  save 
ourselves. 

Do  not  protest,  it  is  so. 

A  complete  explanation  of  this  state  of  things 
would  fill  volumes,  and  it  would  be  interesting,  too. 

Then,  certainly,  the  American  woman  is  very 
"  smart  "  in  knowing  how  to  exploit  her  suprem- 
acy. But  how  would  you  explain  to  me  her 
almost  unrestrained  penchant  for  Germans  ?  Is 
it  possible  that,  fascinated  by  a  juggled  victory 
over  a  nation  which  is  most  chivalrous  towards 
her,  she  forgets  the  position  of  the  German 
woman  ? 

The  greatest  philosopher -misogynist  was  Ger- 
man. 

"  Oh,  you  that  are  wise  and  profound  in  knowl- 
edge, you  that  have  meditated,  that  know  where, 
when,  and  how  everything  is  united  in  nature,  tell 


I  8  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

me,  why  those  loves,  why  those  kisses  ?  Put  to 
the  torture  your  mind,  and  tell  me  where,  when, 
and  how  it  happened  to  me  to  love,  why  it  hap- 
pened to  me  to  love  ?  " 

Such  is  the  exclamation  of  Schopenhauer;  and 
then  he  asks  himself  in  what  this  mysterious 
empire  consists,  the  most  powerful  and  the  most 
active  of  all  empires.  It  astonished  him  to  realize 
that  woman  puts  the  greatest  minds  upside  down  ; 
that  she  intercedes,  that  she  troubles  them  with 
her  trifles  in  diplomatic  negotiation ;  that  she  can 
slip  her  billets  donx  and  her  locks  of  hair  into  the 
portfolios  of  statesmen ;  that  she  can  overturn 
everything,  embroil  everything.  And  he  is  inces- 
sant against  "  this  being  with  large  hips,  long 
hair,  and  short  ideas."  Instead  of  fair  sex,  he 
would  have  us  read  "  unaesthetic  sex." 

That  is  from  the  physical  standpoint. 

Ask  for  the  intellectual  and  moral  sides,  here  is 
his  opinion  : 

"  Nature,  when  she  refused  strength  to  woman, 
gave  her,  in  order  to  protect  her  in  her  weakness, 
consummate  trickery.  The  lion  has  teeth  and 
claws,  the  elephant  and  wild  boar  their  means  of 
defence,  the  ox  his  horns  ;  the  woman  has  dissim- 
ulation, innate  in  the  most  intelligent  as  well  as 
the  most  stupid." 


WOMAN.  19 

Explain,  who  can,  this  Egyptian  Sphinx  called 
woman !  And  explain,  if  you  can,  the  American 
woman  who  prefers  the  grossness  of  the  Teutonic 
race  to  the  politeness  of  the  Latin  race,  singing 
with  its  old  poet : 

"  Le  bonheur  c'est  I  'amour 
Buvons  a  la  plus  belle.'1'' 

The  American  woman,  like  her  Parisian  sister, 
likes  to  shine  in  society,  but  I  must  establish  a 
little  shade  of  difference  in  this  respect  between 
the  two  women.  While  the  Parisian  makes  all 
possible  efforts  to  attract  and  please  the  men,  the 
American  woman  is  sufficient  to  herself  and  can 
get  along  quite  well  with  the  society  of  her  own 
sex ;  at  least  she  leads  one  to  think  that  she 
can. 

Often  one  of  my  fair  friends  has  said  to  me : 

"  I  was  at  a  whist  party  yesterday." 

"  Who  were  there  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  only  ladies." 

"  And  did  you  enjoy  it  ?  " 

"  Oh,  we  had  a  lovely  time." 

Just  think  of  it,  such  a  lovely  time  and  with- 
out the  men  !  A  Parisian  would  never  say  that ; 
in  Paris  a  woman  does  not  understand  pleasure 
without  the  society  of  men  any  more  than  a 


2O  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

man  understands  pleasure  without  the  society  of 
women. 

But  very  often  the  American  woman,  by  her 
demands  and  her  prodigalities,  is  the  despair  of 
her  too  indulgent  and  compliant  husband,  who  is 
always  ready  to  yield  to  her,  and  never  succeeds  in 
satisfying  her  fancies. 

The  proof  of  it  is  in  an  unfinished  letter  that  I 
found  in  a  hotel  in  Boston,  and  which  I  copied 
in  all  its  dolorous  bewilderment  and  poignant 
simplicity  for  the  consideration  of  my  beautiful 
readers : 

"  DEAR  NELLIE:  — 

"  I  have  received  your  letter,  the  first  that  you  have 
written  to  me  since  I  left  home,  and  I  must  say  that  you 
have  money  '  on  the  brain.'  I  cannot  see  why  you  are 
obliged  to  go  to  any  one  else  for  money,  as  I  am  sure  that 
you  have  for  your  personal  expenses  as  much  money  as 
nine  women  out  of  ten  have ;  when  I  had  money  I  am  sure 
that  you  received  as  much  as  you  wanted.  As  for  continu- 
ally reproaching  me  for  not  furnishing  you  more,  when  you 
know  how  hard  I  am  struggling  to  provide  for  our  living, 
and  to  pay  interest  on  my  debts,  your  actions,  to  say  the 
least,  are  far  from  encouraging. 

"In  spite  of  your  fears,  I  hope  not  to  die  so  soon  as 
to  leave  you  so  poorly  situated  as  your  mother  was  left. 
I  expect  to  leave  for  Montana  tomorrow  ..." 


WOMAN.  2 1 

He  went  to  the  wild  and  woolly  West  to  seek  a 
fortune  for  an  ingrate. 

One  can  read  between  the  lines  a  whole  domes- 
tic tragedy. 

If  all  American  women  were  like  "  Dear  Nellie," 
my  English  friend,  Mr.  Mac  Lawrence,  perhaps, 
would  have  been  right  when  he  said  to  me : 

"  The  American  woman  !  She  considers  her 
husband  simply  as  a  machine  for  making  money." 

But    this    is   an   opinion   of   an    Englishman  — 
don't  you  know?  —  and  those  fellows  ever  since 
Yorktown,  when  the  immortal  Washington,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  few  French  friends,  was,  as 
Longfellow  says, — 

"  Chasing  the  red-coats," 

find  everything  wrong  in  the  United  States. 

As  for  me,  I  prefer  to  believe  that  there  is 
in  America  much  of  the  strong,  womanly  char- 
acter which  is  so  masterfully  presented  in  the 
short  stories  of  Miss  M?.ry  E.  Wilkins,  and  that 
such  women  as  "  Dear  Nellie "  are  only  excep- 
tions, perhaps  numerous,  but  nevertheless  excep- 
tions. 

If  I  were  an  American  girl,  undoubtedly  I 
would  go  to  Wellesley  College  and  study,  as 


22  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Goethe's  Faust,  "the  marvels  of  civilization."  I 
would  gather,  as  he  did,  "the  treasure  of  human 
spirit,"  but  perhaps,  as  he  did  also,  I  would  like 
to  leave  everything  for  love,  and  I  would  say : 

"  Un  regard  de  tes  yeux,  un  mot  de  ta  bouche, 
ont  plus  de  cliarmes  pour  mot  que  toute  sagesse  de 
r '  Univers." 

But  for  the  present,  let  me  rather  say  with 
Klopstock,  in  honor  of  the  Wellesley  girls  : 

"  Your  look  is  brighter  than  a  spring  morning, 
your  eyes  are  more  brilliant  than  stars,  when,  full 
of  youth,  they  balance  themselves  near  the  celes- 
tial thrones  with  all  their  waves  of  light." 

To  describe  the  charms  of  nature  in  the  midst 
of  which  this  school  for  the  American  girl  is  situ- 
ated, I  would  be  obliged  to  borrow  some  of  the 
talent  of  Burns.  But  its  beautiful  situation  is  so 
well  known  that  my  readers  will  not  be  disap- 
pointed if  I  do  not  give  them  a  description  of  it, 
and  I  will  only  express  my  enthusiastic  admiration 
for  it. 

How  I  envy  the  fair  sex  in  having  a  school  so 
peaceful  and  well  adapted  to  study !  What  a  con- 
trast with  the  gray  walls  of  our  convents  ! 

But  what  is  more  charming  in  Wellesley  is  the 
feminine  movement,  the  flitting  of  pretty  butter- 
flies, the  rustling  of  soft  garments,  the  presence 


WOMAN.  23 

of  the  senteur  de  la  femme,  that  reminds  you  of 
the  exclamation  of  the  poet  : 

"  The  light  of  life  is  woman,  the  love  of  life  is 
the  love  of  woman ;  the  light  that  pales  not,  the 
life  that  cannot  die,  the  love  that  can  know  no 
ending ;  my  light,  my  life,  and  my  love." 

Or  the  other  : 

"  Ehret  die  Frauen  !     Sie  flechten  und  iveben 
Himmlische  Rosen  ins  irdische  Leben.'1'1 

What  a  dazzling  spectacle  those  young  girls  pre- 
sent, dressed  in  "cap  and  gown!"  Those  modern 
Dryads  in  light  dresses  wandering  in  the  midst  of 
green  woods,  those  modern  Naiads  gliding  slowly 
in  their  pretty,  dainty  boats  upon  the  crystalline 
surface  of  the  blue  lake. 

While  looking  on  the  lake,  on  which  many 
young  misses  were  rowing,  I  thought  of  Dumas 
le  Grand,  who,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  wrote  this 
thought : 

"  Qui  s  einbarque  avec  des  femmes  s  embarque 
avec  la  tcmpetc.  Mais  elles  sont  elle-memes  Ics 
barques  dc  sauvetage." 

In  Wellesley  as  elsewhere,  and  perhaps  more 
than  elsewhere,  the  charming  nonchalance  of  the 
American  girl,  her  perfect  aise,  her  sureness  of 
movements  and  action,  are  well  shown. 


CHAPTER    II. 

MEN    IN    AMERICA. 

HOW  do  you  do  ?  " 
"  Very  well,   thank   you ;    how    is    busi- 
ness ?" 

"  Very  good,  very  good.      How  is  it  with  you  ?  " 

"  First-rate !" 

The  above  conversation  between  any  two  Amer- 
icans I  am  not  giving  in  order  to  poke  fun,  but 
because  it  is  so  typical  that  it  will  help  me  to 
characterize  the  American,  and  also  because  it 
has  a  deeper  meaning  than  at  first  appears. 

The  whole  character  of  a  nation  is  shown  in 
its  greeting.  So  we  Frenchmen  say  :  "  Comment 
vous  portez-vous  ? "  —because  we  care  so  much 
about  our  appearance  ;  in  fact  we  are  the  most 
vain  nation  in  the  world. 

The  Germans  say:  "  Wic  gchfs  IJinenl"  —  and, 
indeed,  they  do  go  very  slow  but  sure. 

The  Italians:  "Come  state?"  (How  do  you 
stay?)  —  and  you  know  how  they  stay,  especially 
in  these  days  with  their  army  and  wretched 
finances. 

24 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  2$ 

The  Russians:  "  Kak  pagiviyetyeh  ?  "  (How  do 
you  live?)  —  because  they  are  so  fond  of  good 
material  living. 

But  the  Anglo-Saxons  say:  "How  do  you  do?" 
—  because  all  their  faculties  are  concentrated  upon 
their  work,  upon  hard  work,  from  morning  till 
night ;  that  is  the  secret  of  their  prosperity. 

The  American  says  still  more  :  he  asks  imme- 
diately about  business.  They  do  not  care  about 
their  health,  about  their  living ;  their  great  care 
is  about  business  ;  they  kill  themselves  with  hard 
work,  they  neglect  their  physical  and  mental  life, 
but  they  make  business  flourishing  and  booming. 

The  silent  and  cold  activity  of  the  American 
man  is  exercised  in  every  sense  over  this  vast 
continent,  upon  this  very  fertile  soil,  which  repays 
his  efforts  a  hundred  fold. 

Cold  by  disposition,  reserved  by  instinct,  an 
indefatigable  worker,  ambitious  for  fortune  and 
power,  from  earliest  youth  he  concentrates  all 
his  faculties  upon  one  aim, —  to  succeed.  His  am- 
bition is  without  limit,  as  is  the  field  in  which  it 
is  exercised.  No  one,  no  matter  how  humble  is 
his  beginning,  but  can  aspire  to  the  highest  posi- 
tion and  hope  for  the  greatest  wealth. 

"  Farmer  or  wood-cutter,  artisan  or  salesman,  he 


26  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

can  become  a  member  of  Congress,  Senator,  Am- 
bassador, Secretary  of  State,  President  of  the 
Republic.  In  the  liberal  professions  nothing  bars 
his  way.  He  is  not  forced  to  wait  during  a  long 
and  costly  period  between  his  course  of  study  and 
his  admission  to  the  bar;  there  are  no  annoying 
conditions  of  advancement,  no  social  distinctions 
which  confine  and  paralyze  his  efforts  and  retard 
his  promotion.  The  system  of  education  which 
regards  all  students  as  equals  is  continued  even 
after  graduation,  and  no  one  has  an  advantage  in 
practice  which  does  not  arise  from  the  superiority 
of  the  man  himself,  a  superiority  which  often  lies 
in  greater  determination  and  energy." 

The  ambitious  man  knows  this,  and  often  strains 
his  power  beyond  the  point  of  endurance ;  he 
avoids  by  instinct  everything  which  will  turn  him 
from  his  purpose,  and  cares  but  little  for  forms 
and  appearances. 

Foreigners  reproach  him  for  his  lack  of  urban- 
ity, very  often  for  his  rough  ways,  his  somewhat 
coarse  disdain.  Certainly  there  are  numerous  and 
brilliant  exceptions,  but  in  many  cases  the  reproach 
is  justified.  The  majority  have  the  time  neither 
to  be  polished,  nor  to  seek  the  society  of  woman. 
They  have  other  things  to  attend  to.  With  no 
expectation  of  dowry,  they  are  obliged  to  win 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  2J 

their  own  fortunes  to  support  their  wives  and 
families. 

Rich  or  poor,  having  attained  success  or  striving 
for  it,  they  are  very  seldom  idle ;  and  one  must 
have  leisure  to  cultivate  the  society  of  woman. 
Of  all  occupations  this  one  of  cultivating  the  soci- 
ety of  woman  needs  the  most  time  ana  attention. 

"  Finally,  in  the  United  States  the  drawing-rooms 
are  not,  as  in  Europe,  one  of  the  highways  to  suc- 
cess ;  they  are  not  frequented  by  the  ambitious 
in  search  of  assistance,  recommendation  and  influ- 
ence, the  centre  where  intrigues  commence,  where 
plans  are  formed,  where  bargains  are  concluded. 
Even  in  Washington,  the  crowds  who  besiege  the 
White  House  very  seldom  have  entree  to  the 
drawing-rooms,  even  to  the  political  ones,  and  it 
would  be  difficult  to  give  the  name  of  a  states- 
man, a  financier,  a  lawyer,  a  millionaire,  who  has 
advanced  to  success  over  the  carpet  of  the  draw- 
ing-room." 

By  a  singular  contrast,  the  love  of  luxury  is  as 
little  characteristic  of  the  American  man  as  the 
need  of  it  is  innate  in  the  American  woman ;  he, 
indifferent  to  appearances,  full  of  care  for  realities, 
likes  money,  and  consecrates  all  his  faculties  to  its 
possession,  because  money  is  visible  and  tangible, 


28  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

and  a  mark  of  success ;  he  uses  but  little  and  asks 
but  little  for  himself.  His  wife,  rather  than  money, 
is  his  luxury,  and  every  millionaire's  life  is  incessant 
work,  crushing  preoccupation. 

To  her  belongs  the  glitter  of  the  fortune,  the 
pleasures  of  society,  haughty  exclusiveness ;  to 
him  the  power  which  millions  give,  a  more  solid 
and  durable  power  than  that  of  the  President  with 
his  modest  salary  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  with 
limited  powers  and  a  short  rule  of  four  years. 

So  the  Americans  have  the  greatest  regard  for 
their  women,  —  it  is  beautiful  to  see  ;  but  I  know 
many  women  who  would  like  a  little  less  of  their 
respect  and  a  little  more  of  their  society. 

"  Oh  !  but  American  men  are  such  good  hus- 
bands !  "  a  lady  said  to  me. 

"They  would  be  perfect,"  exclaimed  her  sister, 
"if  only  they  would  be  a  little  more  a  la  frangaise." 

Strange  that  they  are  so  childlike  in  their  cele- 
bration of  the  Fourth  of  July.  The  American 
who  talks  so  much  about  dignity  and  decency, 
and  the  "glorious  Fourth,"  is  neither  decent  nor 
dignified ;  the  people  act  as  though  they  were 
crazy,  throwing  cartridges  under  carriages,  firing 
guns  in  the  crowd,  howling  and  yelling.  Can  you 
explain  such  manifestations  of  joy  by  people  who, 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  2$ 

in  the  smallest  matter  of  business  and  life,  are  so 
serious  ? 

In  the  American  man  the  characteristic  features 
are  brought  out  more  strongly,  appear  more  accent- 
uated and  exaggerated,  as  well  by  the  free  play  of 
natural  instincts  as  by  the  necessity  of  making 
a  fight  for  existence. 

If  one  examines  the  primitive  elements  which 
make  of  the  citizen  of  the  United  States  a  type 
almost  distinct  from  the  European  from  whom  he 
comes,  from  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  the  Dutchman, 
from  the  Irishman  and  Spaniard,  from  the  French- 
man and  the  German,  from  the  Scandinavian  and 
the  Italian,  the  blood  of  all  of  whom  mingles  in  his 
veins,  one  is  surprised  at  the  very  little  work  which 
atavism  has  done  in  the  determination  of  the  race. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  influence  of  place  can  be 
seen  and  comprehended  better  nowhere  than  in 
America.  You  can  see  in  the  American,  as  in 
a  mirror,  all  his  faults  and  his  good  qualities  ;  you 
can  see,  in  his  conception  and  in  his  ideas,  the 
reflection  of  the  soil  of  the  climate,  and  the  first 
conditions  of  his  existence. 

In  the  first  place,  the  will,  the  tenacity,  the 
persistency,  which  mark  him,  are  the  same  as  they 
were  yesterday,  are  to-day,  and  will  be  to-morrow. 
When  it  is  necessary  to  accomplish  some  work,  to 


3O  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

overcome  obstacles,  these  traits  will  appear  first, 
with  their  inevitable  cortege  of  qualities  and  faults, 
of  firmness  and  stiffness.  The  object  of  his  efforts 
in  a  constitutionally  democratic  society,  conse- 
crated to  the  attainment  of  purely  material  things, 
cannot  be  other  than  money. 

One  very  often  reproaches  the  citizen  of  the 
United  States  for  his  worship  of  the  "  Mighty 
Dollar,"  but  one  must  remember  that  the  dollar 
is  for  him  the  thing  that  counts. 

He  has  eliminated  social  distinctions  as  he 
claims,  but,  as  human  ambition  must  have  some 
object,  he  has  taken  the  dollar ! 

"In  Jwc  signo  ($)  vinces." 

When,  at  the  Art  Museum  in  Boston,  Mr.  John 
J.  Enneking,  a  talented  painter,  who  has  sound 
common  sense  in  addition  to  his  great  artistic 
ability,  proposed  a  money  prize  for  the  best  pic- 
ture, he  met  with  very  strong  objections,  based 
upon  the  presumptive  fact  that  it  is  better  to  give 
an  artist  a  medal  than  ready  money,  because  a 
medal  is  a  greater  honour,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
increases  the  value  of  the  pictures  of  an  artist  to 
whom  it  has  been  awarded. 

Mr.  Enneking  replied  with  words  worthy  of 
being  remembered  : 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  3  I 

"I  have  received  several  medals  at  our  exhibi- 
tions, but,  I  assure  you,  it  has  no  effect  upon  the 
sale  of  my  pictures.  Please  do  not  forget  that  we 
are  not  in  Paris,  —  there  a  medal  means  a  fortune 
for  an  artist ;  here  it  means  nothing,  as  we  are  in 
a  country  where  the  almighty  dollar  alone  has 
value." 

And  it  is  true  that,  notwithstanding  the  Jewish 
influence  in  France,  followed  necessarily  by  a 
greater  power  of  money,  we  cannot  conceive  there 
a  social  organization  in  which  money  could  be  sov- 
ereign. And  now,  even  more  than  ever,  we  have 
for  a  great  savant,  a  great  artist,  a  great  writer, 
a  descendant  of  a  great  race,  quite  different  and 
much  greater  esteem  than  for  a  rich  man,  no 
matter  how  rich  he  may  be. 

Millionaire  !  Bah  !  What  is  it  ?  There  have 
been  countless  millionaires,  and  we  do  not  know 
one  of  them,  except  the  Medicis  ;  but  they  were 
Medicis,  —  you  know  their  value.  And  have  you 
Medicis  in  this  country  ?  Certainly  you  have 
better,  so  far  as  it  is  a  question  of  money,  as 
I  do  not  think  that  the  Medicis  possessed  as 
much  money  as  some  of  your  millionaires;  but 
they  are  not  Medicis  whom  I  admire,  —  and,  with 
me,  all  mankind,  —  not  the  Medicis  to  whom  the 
marvellous  genius  of  Michael  Angelo  built  a 


32  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

monument,  whose  grandeur  is  in  proportion  to 
the  grandeur  of  such  a  glorious  race. 

In  this  respect,  at  least,  we  differ  greatly  from 
you  ;  do  you  prefer  your  idol  to  ours  ? 

Are  you  better? 

Are  we  better  ? 

That  is  the  question  ;  which  I  leave  to  you  to 
answer. 

The  Americans  are,  as  we  say,  "  le  penple  bon 
enfant." 

They  have  very  good  dispositions,  without 
being  careless  ;  the  good,  unalterable  humour  of 
a  people  who  feel  happy  in  living,,  and  who  work 
with  a  quiet  conscience  under  a  clear  sky. 

But  if  you  would  see  a  man  here  to  advantage, 
it  must  be  after  business  hours,  in  the  evening ; 
in  the  daytime,  unless  you  have  some  business  with 
him,  he  is  unpleasant,  even  rough.  The  reason 
is,  that  his  mind  is  all  in  his  business. 

I  happened  to  make  the  acquaintance  of  an 
American  in  the  evening,  and  I  found  him  to  be 
a  very  agreeable  fellow  ;  the  next,  day  I  met  him, 
while  he  was  talking  business,  and  he  hardly 
noticed  me  ;  of  course  I  thought  him  very  rough  ; 
it  was  only  after  a  longer  stay  in  America  that  I 
found  that  I  was  unjust,  and  I  even  found  that 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  33 

their  apparent  roughness  was  one  of  the  secrets  of 
their  success. 

In  order  to  gain  time,  the  American  adopts  the 
most  costly  inventions,  and  the  most  complicated 
machinery.  The  American  is  never  in  a  hurry, 
at  least,  he  does  not  appear  to  be.  But,  if  he  has 
all  the  appearance  of  indifference,  he  has  under- 
neath an  amount  of  patience  which  is  proof 
against  everything.  In  business,  in  private  life, 
on  the  street,  on  the  railroad,  on  the  steamer,  the 
feverish  agitation  which  Europeans  associate  with 
Americans  does  not  really  exist. 

James  Bryce  has  tried  to  show  that  the  Amer- 
ican is  a  fatalist ;  he  counts  upon  fortune,  upon 
chance,  upon  the  action  of  time  and  nature. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  American  lacks 
"  pluck,"  the  kind  of  animal  courage  which  is 
shown  in  his  "cheeky"  and  enterprising  spirit. 
The  American  goes  forward ;  he  strains  all  his 
nerves  ;  if  he  does  not  succeed  at  first,  he  does 
not  lose  his  patience,  nor  is  he  discouraged  ;  he 
still  thinks  that  he  always  has  a  chance.  In  him, 
even  in  the  hours  of  fatigue  and  bad  luck,  a 
cheerful  fatalism  and  a  physical  nervous  prostra- 
tion exist  together. 

This  nervous  prostration,  so  general  with  busi- 


34  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

ness  men,  the  financiers  of  large  cities,  is  the 
result  of  overwork,  and  the  excess  of  speculative 
excitement.  The  American  works  very  hard,  eight 
or  ten  hours  daily,  during  nine  months  of  the 
year,  carrying  out  gigantic  projects,  then,  when 
the  tenth  month  finds  him  exhausted,  he  abandons 
all,  takes  a  rest,  and  recommences  in  the  fall. 

This  fatalism,  which  follows  him  everywhere  in 
his  life,  is  a  kind  of  optimism,  the  dominating 
feature  of  the  character  of  these  people  with 
whom  everything  has  succeeded  so  far,  even  their 
faults. 

The  American  is  feverish  in  speculation,  ner- 
vous and  excitable  in  business,  and  yet,  seeing 
him  in  his  daily  life,  one  concludes  that  he  is 
never  impatient.  Look  at  those  big  bankers  on 
Broadway,  speculators  in  every  line,  to  whom  a 
minute  of  delay  can  sometimes  mean  the  loss  of 
a  fortune;  if  he  cannot  cross  the  street  on  ac- 
count of  the  frequent  stopping  of  the  teams,  he 
never  swears ;  he  waits  patiently  while  things 
take  their  regular  course. 

Henry  James  was  right  when  he  put  in  the 
mouth  of  his  hero,  a  typical  American,  these 
words  : 

"  I  never  lose  my  temper." 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  35 

And  in  everything  else  it  is  the  same.  In  the 
hotels,  the  service  is  horrible.  The  American 
waiters  serve  you  as  if  they  were  doing  you  a 
favor,  as  slowly  as  they  please ;  they  make  you 
waste  much  of  your  time  at  the  table,  and  yet 
the  American,  who  is  in  a  hurry,  whom  his  busi- 
ness calls,  does  not  show  any  displeasure.  He  is 
resigned  to  the  inevitable.  His  manner  is  just 
opposite  to  that  of  the  Englishman  in  such  cir- 
cumstances. In  the  station,  if  the  train  is  late, 
even  several  hours,  and  through  the  fault  of  the 
company,  the  crowd  waits  without  murmuring, 
without  impatience,  without  bad  humour.  In 
France,  the  Frenchman  would  accuse  the  Govern- 
ment ;  in  England,  the  British  citizen  would  write 
a  furious  letter  to  the  "  Times ;  "  the  American 
waits  or  passes,  and,  if  he  does  swear,  it  is  to 
himself. 

The  Americans  are  always  easily  approached, 
no  matter  what  their  social  positions  or  their  for- 
tunes may  be. 

Very  much  has  been  said  about  everybody 
shaking  hands  with  the  President  at  the  White 
House,  about  the  affability  of  all  public  men ; 
but  form  is  not  everything ;  and  one  feels 
beneath  those  habits,  which  are  established  so 


36  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

naturally,  a  sincere  love  for  the  real  understand- 
ing of  equality.  American  politeness  has  a  kind 
of  pleasing  comradeship.  The  strict  formulas  of 
politeness  are  not  always  used,  but  everybody  is 
ready  to  render  you  a  service,  to  be  useful  to  his 
fellow  men.  There  reigns  among  the  people  a 
true  democratic  feeling,  if  one  excepts  the  snob- 
bish minority  of  the  "  Four  Hundred,"  which 
every  large  city  possesses  now,  aping  New  York. 

The  American  admires  success  ;  success  justi- 
fies everything.  A  successful  man  is  seldom  the 
object  of  jealousy,  or  of  the  violent  hatred  of  his 
competitor ;  nobody  thinks  that  a  successful  man 
does  him  wrong  in  succeeding.  Everybody  seems 
to  be  convinced  that  there  is  a  place  for  himself, 
that  his  chance  may  come,  that  it  will  come ; 
another  man's  success  is  for  him  a  source  of 
encouragement,  and,  for  the  city,  town,  or  village, 
an  ornament. 

"  Mind  your  own  business  !  " 

It  is  one  of  the  healthiest  maxims  in  this 
country,  and  they  are  right,  because  it  is  better, 
instead  of  trying  to  destroy  the  building  of  your 
neighl!/bur,  to  build  another  on  your  own  account. 

Happy  country,  where  youth,  far  from  being  a 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  37 

fault,  is  almost  a  privilege ;  where  they  do  not 
wait  until  your  voice  is  less  clear  and  your  words 
less  ardent,  until  you  have  left  along  your  weary 
route  all  the  illusions  of  youth,  until  your  back  is 
bent,  to  have  confidence  in  you,  to  trust  heavy 
responsibilities  to  you ! 

No  matter  how  high  one  is  placed,  he  receives 
young  people  everywhere  with  favour  ;  he  permits 
them  to  speak,  before  he  judges  them  ;  he  does 
not  throw  in  their  face  that  stupid  judgment, 
which,  in  many  countries,  passes  for  a  sentence 
without  appeal,  and  sets  them  aside  as  inexpe- 
rienced youngsters.  The  Americans  have  many 
good  reasons  for  making  so  much  of  youth,  for 
one  needs  all  its  freshness,  all  its  flexibility,  all 
its  vigour,  to  go  ahead  in  a  country  in  which  the 
race  after  fortune  has  taken  on  a  head -turning 
rapidity. 

If  a  young  man  of  twenty-three  has  character, 
good  habits,  and  intelligence,  there  is  nothing  to 
prevent  his  being  entrusted  with  the  greatest 
affairs  and  the  heaviest  responsibilities.  That  it 
is  a  wise  policy  is  well  exemplified. 

And  it  is  simply  admirable !  A  nation  where  a 
man  of  thirty  can  give  proof  of  ability,  w;*:hout 
being  paralyzed  by  prejudice  on  account  of  his 
youth,  has  already  taken  the  lead  over  nations 


38  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

where  age,  and  the  experience  that  is  acquired  at 
the  expense  of  energy,  are  diplomas  of  capability. 

Grant,  Sherman,  and  twenty  other  generals, 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  War  of  Secession,  were 
young  men. 

In  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  Mt.  Auburn  Cemetery, 
one  can  see  the  monument  of  a  Harvard  student 
who  was  a  colonel  at  twenty-five  years  of  age. 

This  appreciation  of  youth  is  one  of  the  secrets 
of  the  great  development  of  a  country  ;  the  young 
Louis  XIV.,  with  his  youthful  followers,  had  the 
most  brilliant  court  in  the  world,  and  the  young 
generals  of  Napoleon  I.  conducted  the  old  soldiers 
to  the  most  brilliant  victories.  And  we  remember 
France  in  1870,  when  she  thought  that  only  old 
generals  were  wise ! 

"  The  purely  material  preoccupation  of  Ameri- 
cans," Judge  Warren  A.  Reed  said  to  me,  "can 
be  compared  with  the  spirit  of  those  times  in 
Europe,  when  every  man,  who  wished  to  be  some- 
body, and  had  enough  courage,  took  his  charger 
and  armour  and  went  forth  to  combat  ;  the  differ- 
ence observed  is  that  we  do  not  have  any  oppor- 
tunity to  display  our  energy,  and  to  use  our 
vitality,  except  in  hard  and  continuous  work  in 
business  to  make  a  dollar." 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  39 

I  think  that  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in 
this  statement,  because,  in  this  country,  the 
mighty  dollar  is  so  general  a  criterion  of  success. 

In  business  offices,  you  can  see  such  inscrip- 
tions in  big  letters  as  — 

"  This  is  my  busy  day," 
posted  for  the  benefit  of  the  bore. 

In  the  office  of  a  wealthy  real  estate  man  I  saw, 
engraved  on  marble,  the  following : 

"  Three  things  to  be  careful  of : 
Health, 
Reputation, 
Money." 

I  think  that,  in  the  trinity  of  my  thrifty  friend, 
money  was  the  first  person,  since  he  did  all  things 
with  a  view  to  increasing  his  wealth,  although  he 
did  not  have  a  family  to  work  for. 

In  fact,  the  American  does  anything  to  make 
money  ;  thus  it  seems  very  strange  to  a  European 
to  see  shoe -brushes  and  blacking,  and  even  a 
litter  of  puppies,  for  sale  in  drug  stores. 

"  I  bet  you  a  good  dinner,"  an  American  once 
said  to  me,  "  that  Mr.  Cobb  has  anything  you 
wish  to  buy  in  his  drug  store." 


4O  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"I  take  you,"  said  I,  "and  I  shall  call  for  a 
pulpit." 

"  All  right,  old  man,"  said  he,  and,  turning  to 
the  apothecary,  he  asked  : 

"  Mr.  Cobb,  have  you  a  pulpit  for  sale  ?" 

"Come  right  this  way,  I  can  sell  you  a  pulpit," 
was  the  proprietor's  answer. 

And  I  lost  my  bet,  as,  in  fact,  the  apothecary 
had  a  second-hand  pulpit  which  he  had  bought  at 
an  auction. 

I  saw  an  architect  marching  at  the  head  of  a 
band  as  a  drum-major  ! 

To  illustrate  how  good -hearted  the  American 
is,  I  insert  here  a  letter,  accidentally  in  my  pos- 
session, from  a  railroad  company,  to  a  ticket- 
agent  : 

"MR.  L.  B.  DREW: 

"  DEAR  SIR  :  Referring  to  Mr.  MacSherry,  whom  you 
so  kindly  ticketed  with  our  excursion  last  Thursday  to 
Kansas  City,  you  remember  you  requested  me  to  reserve 
for  him  a  lower  berth  in  our  sleeping-car,  which,  of  course, 
I  did,  and  saw  him  aboard  the  same  at  the  Fitchburg 
station  upon  our  departure.  As  I  had  business  out  on 
the  road,  I  accompanied  the  train  a  short  distance,  and, 
when  the  Pullman  conductor  came  through  to  take  up  the 
tickets  for  Pullman  space,  we  discovered  that  Mr.  Mac- 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  4! 

Sherry  had  but  seventy-five  cents  to  his  name,  which,  of 
course,  would  not  pay  for  the  berth  for  one  night.  I  found 
he  was  rather  childish,  and  disliked  very  much  the  idea 
of  having  him  put  in  the  day -coach,  where  he  would 
have  to  change  cars  several  times,  and,  considering  that 
it  was  so  snowy  and  stormy,  I  took  pity  on  him,  and  ar- 
ranged to  have  him  stay  in  the  sleeper  to  Chicago  with- 
out cost  to  himself. 

"Very  truly  yours, 

"  C.  A.  ANDERSON." 

This  letter  shows  in  the  best  light  the  kind- 
ness of  the  American,  his  superiority  to  the  Eu- 
ropean. In  France  Mr.  MacSherry  would  be 
roughly  scolded  by  a  ticket-agent,  or  insulted  by 
the  conductor ;  in  Germany  he  would  be  arrested 
and  imprisoned ;  in  the  beautiful  country  of  Amer- 
ica he  is  provided  with  the  comfort  of  a  sleeping- 
car. 

I  could  give  several  examples  of  such  kindness 
from  my  personal  experience.  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  assert  that  the  Americans  are  the  kindest 
people  I  have  met  in  my  travels,  and  I  have 
lived  a  long  time  in  almost  every  European 
country.  With  good  reason  I  have  a  high  regard 
for  the  bright,  cordial,  intelligent,  and  humane 
Americans. 

While  the  eminent  Russian  landscape  painter, 
Ayvasoviky,  was  here,  he  said : 


42  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"  There  is  a  mistaken  impression  in  my  country 
that  the  Americans  are  a  churlish  race.  I  have 
found  the  very  opposite  to  be  true.  I  do  not 
speak  of  the  higher  classes  only,  among  whom  I 
have  found  charming  persons,  as  courteous  as 
anywhere  else  in  the  world,  but  of  the  masses. 

"  In  no  other  country  have  I  seen  such  uniform 
good-nature." 

And  here  is  an  historical  anecdote,  proving 
once  more  my  statement  : 

"  Lord  and  Lady  X—  -  called  at  the  White 
House  during  Jackson's  administration,  after 
James  Buchanan  returned  from  England,  as 
Minister  to  the  Court  of  St.  James.  Mr.  Bu- 
chanan had  known  them  well  abroad,  and  received 
them  at  the  Capitol.  He  went  to  look  for  the 
President,  and  found  him  en  desliabille  in  his  pri- 
vate room.  The  chief  executive  had  a  dressing- 
gown  thrown  over  his  suit  of  undergarments,  and 
a  pair  of  carpet  slippers  encased  his  stockingless 
feet. 

Mr.  Buchanan  announced  the  presence  of  the 
distinguished  foreigners,  and,  incidentally,  dropped 
some  hints  as  to  the  proper  attire  the  President 
should  appear  in  when  he  met  his  guests. 

"  Look  here,  Buck,"  said  the  President,  affec- 
tionately, "  I  knew  a  man  in  my  State  who  got 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  43 

rich  minding  his  own  business.  I  know  what  I 
am  about." 

Mr.  Buchanan  retired,  and  the  President  arrayed 
himself  in  all  the  splendour  of  black  broadcloth 
and  frilled  shirt  front. 

The  story  goes  that  he  personally  showed  his 
visitors  over  the  White  House,  and  his  good- 
nature drew  from  Lady  X—  -  the  following 
compliment  : 

"  Mr.  Buchanan,  we  have  visited  nearly  all  the 
courts  of  the  world,  but  your  President  has  shown 
himself  to  be  the  most  courteous  and  agreeable 
ruler  that  it  has  ever  been  our  privilege  to  meet." 

The  honesty  of  the  masses,  too,  is  worthy  of 
notice.  In  any  town  you  may  enter  the  office  of 
a  lawyer,  of  a  dentist,  find  nobody  there,  and 
all  books  and  instruments  left  about  in  perfect 
security. 

You  can  leave  linen  on  the  line  during  the 
night,  and  nobody  steals  it,  as  would  be  the  case 
in  any  country  in  Europe. 

You  can  leave  your  papers  on  the  mail -box, 
and  they  will  be  delivered  ;  in  Europe  the  street 
boys  would  take  them  and  destroy  them  just  for 
the  fun  of  the  thing. 

Nobody  touches  your  flowers  or  your  fruit  in 


44  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

the  garden,  although  it  is  not   surrounded  by  a 
fence  or  wall. 

The  Americans  seem  to  remember  the  advice 
of  Shakespeare,  about  a  good  dress,  regardless  of 
their  means ;  they  are  always  well  dressed.  A 
man  must  have  a  new  suit  every  year  as  the 
woman  must  have  a  new  dress  for  every  season. 

They  are  very  fond  of  new  things  of  every 
kind.  Fashion  is  the  supreme  argument  with 
them.  Emerson,  one  of  the  best  American  wri- 
ters, said  : 

"  Fashion,  which  affects  to  be  honour,  is  often, 
in  all  men's  experience,  only  a  ball-room  code. 
Yet,  so  long  as  it  is  the  highest  circle,  in  the 
imagination  of  the  best  heads  on  the  planet, 
there  is  something  necessary  and  excellent  in  it ; 
for  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  men  have  agreed 
to  be  the  dupes  of  anything  preposterous  j  and 
the  respect  which  these  mysteries  inspire  in  the 
most  rude  and  sylvan  characters,  and  the  curi- 
osity with  which  the  details  of  high  life  are  read, 
betray  the  universality  of  the  love  of  cultivated 
manners." 

Americans  remember  also  that  "a  gentleman 
makes  no  noise;  a  lady  is  serene;"  and,  in  fact, 
a  real  American  of  the  old  stock  is  very  quiet, 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  45 

very  easy ;  the  greatest  business  transactions  are 
effected  in  a  quiet  way. 

It  is  almost  impossible  to  catch  Americans  in  a 
lie;  they  are  truthful,  both  men  and  women,  in 
the  smallest  trifles,  even  to  the  extent  of  being 
sometimes  ridiculous.  I  am  talking  now  about 
matters  of  private  life  ;  in  big  business  schemes, 
they  have  the  cleverest  way  of  representing  to 
you,  as  a  most  brilliant  enterprise,  something  in 
which  you  will  surely  lose  your  money  ;  but  "  busi- 
ness is  business." 

On  the  other  hand,  they  like  exaggeration ; 
everything  is  "  the  most  beautiful  I  ever  saw,  the 
most  delightful  I  ever  saw,  the  grandest  I  ever 
saw,"  etc. 

In  this  big  country,  which  seems  to  be  a  little 
astonished  at  its  rapid  growth  and  its  extraordi- 
nary happiness,  the  popular  orator  does  not  dis- 
dain to  flatter  national  pride,  and  one  is  surprised 
at  the  ridiculous  contrast  between  grandiloquent 
expressions  and  commonplace  subjects. 

Such  an  example  of  pompous  eloquence  is 
found  in  the  speech  delivered  by  Mr.  Noble, 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  in  the  Smithsonian 
Institute  at  Washington,  on  the  occasion  of  the 
dedication  of  the  monument  to  Daguerre,  dur- 
ing the  national  convention  of  photographers. 


46  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"I  am  proud,"  cried  he,  'to  be  an  American; 
everything  in  America  is  beautiful  and  grand ; 
more  beautiful  and  more  grand  than  anything  else 
in  the  world ;  in  the  whole  universe,  it  is  only  the 
American  that  counts,  and  in  America  the  pho- 
tographers are  the  most  interesting  class.  Never 
has  Washington  beheld  a  more  representative 
congress !  " 

His  success  was  complete ;  the  good  photogra- 
phers and  their  families,  overcome  by  the  intense 
heat,  were  suddenly  magnetized  into  the  activity 
which  well-merited  applause  requires. 

This  love  of  exaggeration  can  be  explained  only 
by  the  influence  of  nature  ;  the  rivers  are  enor- 
mous ;  the  mountains  are  gigantic  ;  the  territory 
is  immeasurable ;  and  so  it  must  be  with  every- 
thing in  the  American  mind. 

The  Americans  as  a  people  love  order  and 
cleanliness.  Nothing  is  more  agreeable  than  to 
visit  small  towns  in  New  England,  and  see  those 
beautiful,  well-kept  lawns,  around  the  neat  dwell- 
ings with  their  shining  windows.  Enter  the 
house  and  you  find  the  same  order,  the  same 
neatness  from  cellar  to  garret.  The  Dutch  vil- 
lages are  celebrated  for  their  cleanliness  and 
order,  but  in  America  there  are  many  places 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  47 

inhabited  by  true  Americans  which  are  worthy 
rivals. 

The  foreigner  finds,  somewhat  to  his  surprise, 
that  the  houses  are  mostly  of  wood,  sometimes 
even  very  modest  and  small,  but  around  them 
there  is  a  carpet  of  green,  clean  and  brilliant,  with 
here  and  there  a  bed  of  flowers,  or  a  clump  of 
bright  shrubbery. 

In  this  respect  America  surpasses  every  nation, 
at  least  as  regards  the  masses. 

Still  speaking  of  the  people  at  large,  and  not 
of  the  wealthy  class  here,  as  compared  with  the 
wealthy  class  in  Europe,  the  foreigner  is  sur- 
prised at  the  elegance  of  the  furniture  in  the 
houses  ;  at  the  taste  shown  in  its  arrangement ; 
at  the  taste  and,  one  might  even  say,  the  love 
of  the  artistic. 

Nothing  is  more  elegant  than  the  table  in  an 
American  house  of  even  moderate  means  ;  there  is 
a  profusion  of  silverware,  no  matter  if  it  is  only 
plated,  the  glitter  of  crystal,  scattered  on  the  snow- 
white  table-cloth. 

It  happened  that  I  was  invited  once  to  partake 
of  supper  at  the  modest  house  of  a  carpenter, 
working  by  the  day.  I  was  amazed  to  see,  on  the 
table  of  these  people,  a  cloth  of  snowy  cleanness, 
and  it  was  not  put  on  on  my  account  ;  the  table 


48  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

had  been  set  before  my  coming,  and  they  did  not 
expect  me. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  do  not  know  how  to 
cook,  nor  how  to  vary  their  dishes,  and  I  am 
obliged  to  state  that  cooking  is  the  worst  thing 
that  I  have  found  in  America.  I  have  tried  it  in 
the  most  luxurious  hotels  in  New  York,  Boston, 
Newport,  Providence,  Montreal,  not  to  speak  of 
small  cities,  as  well  as  of  private  houses. 

When  you  come  to  one  of  those  big  American 
hotels  to  dine,  the  black  "gentleman"  hands  you 
a  card  which,  at  first  glance,  would  seem  to  bear 
an  unlimited  number  of  good  things  ;  when  you 
examine  it  more  closely,  you  perceive  that  there 
is  very  little.  To  express  the  single  item  of  bread 
there  are  about  three  lines  : 

"  English  bread,  Vienna  bread,  rye  bread,  bis- 
cuits, toast,  brown  bread,  corn  bread/  muffins, 
rolls,  buckwheat  cakes,  griddle  cakes,  graham  bis- 
cuit, wine-crackers,  water-crackers." 

Truly  a  pain-i\\\  category,  or,  if  you  prefer, 
a  pan-full  category. 

It  is  the  same  with  potatoes  ;  they  are  of  all 
kinds,  from  all  countries,  and  under  all  possible 
forms. 

It  makes  a  areat  show  on  the  bill  of  fare.     You 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  49 

decide,  for  instance,  on  roast  beef  and  vegetables. 
The  nigger  (how  shocking  are  those  Frenchmen !) 
disappears,  and  comes  back  with  an  army  of  small 
dishes.  In  one,  the  celebrated  roast  beef  is  taking 
a  bath  in  gravy ;  the  others  contain  cabbage,  peas, 
mashed  potatoes,  sweet  potatoes,  sweet  corn,  beets, 
tips  of  asparagus  —  so  many  courses  of  vegetables, 
but  only  one  plate  ! 

He  throws  the  whole  "lay-out  "  at  the  table,  as 
if  he  would  say  : 

"  It  is  a  shame  that  such  '  gentlemen '  should 
serve  a  common  European." 

And  now,  help  yourself  with  all  this  army  of 
small  dishes,  and  a  little  bit  of  every  repre- 
sentative of  the  vegetable  kingdom  ;  one  must 
have  the  ability  of  a  hen  to  pick  in  these  little 
dishes. 

They  do  not  serve  you  wine,  but  an  excellent 
brand  of  ice- water,  instead  ;  this  is  to  cool  off  the 
fire  of  passion  aroused  by  the  fleet-footed  waiter, 
I  suppose. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  every  American  is  sick 
with  dyspepsia,  a  sickness  almost  unknown  in 
Europe  ;  at  least,  in  France. 

The  American  is  very  witty,  and  very  seldom 
remains  in  debt  for  a  joke  played  on  him ;  in  fact, 
everybody  jokes  in  this  country.  Speeches  of  a 


5<D  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

generally  grave  nature  are  often  interspersed  with 
witty  anecdotes. 

Mr.  Ben  :  Perley  Poore  gathered  two  volumes  of 
witty  "  Reminiscences." 

The  witty  genius  of  Americans  finds  an  excel- 
lent representative  in  Mark  Twain.  Not  long  ago, 
Mark  Twain  offered  some  books  to  the  new  library 
in  Fair  Haven,  with  this  dedication  : 

"  I  hope  that  people  will  come  to  see  these 
books,  and  examine,  if  not  what  is  within,  at  least 
their  pretty  bindings." 

Ziba  Bryant,  the  brother  of  the  poet  Bryant, 
left  many  witty  bon  mots,  which  are  current  in 
New  England.  To  the  bull  which  stood  on  the 
track  and  snorted  defiance  at  the  approaching 
locomotive,  he  said  : 

"  Mr.  Bull,  I  admire  your  courage,  but  I  think 
very  little  of  your  judgment." 

The  Americans  have  refined  taste  even  in  such 
little  things  as  visiting-cards  and  writing-paper; 
while  Europeans,  corresponding  to  the  class  of 
Americans  of  whom  I  speak,  do  not  think  even  to 
have  visiting-cards,  in  America  they  have  beauti- 
ful ones,  engraved,  and  on  a  fine  bristol. 

But  they  are  our  antipodes  in  using  them  ;  we 
leave  a  card  as  a  sign  or  indication  of  our  visit 


MEN  IN  AMERICA.  5  I 

when  we  do  not  find  the  person  at  home ;  Ameri- 
cans leave  them  when  they  are  received. 

They  are  also  our  antipodes  in  very  many  other 
things  ;  their  watches  are  wound  in  an  opposite 
direction,  and 'the  key  turns  to  the  other  way  in 
the  locks. 

Do  they  try  to  be  original  by  it  ? 

In  the  Stowe-house,  they  smoke  in  the  presence 
of  the  Countess  of  Paris;  in  America  a  "lady" 
would  consider  it  as  an  insult. 

In  Europe  everything  is  for  man  and  woman  ; 
in  America  everything  is  for  woman  ;  ladies'  en- 
trances at  hotels,  ladies'  waiting-rooms  in  the  rail- 
road stations,  ladies'  dining-rooms  in  the  restau- 
rants, etc. 

Whom  shall  I  pity  ?     The  men  or  the  women  ? 


CHAPTER    III. 

FRANCE    IN    AMERICA. 

many  occasions,"  says  M.  Adolphe  Cham- 
brim,*  "it  has  fallen  to  my  lot  to  respond 
to  the  toast,  '  France  :  The  Ancient  Ally  of  the 
United  States.'  As  I  did  not  wish  to  repeat  the 
old  phrases  about  General  de  La  Fayette,  I  looked 
about  carefully,  but  vainly,  I  confess,  for  a  point 
of  rapprochement,  or,  at  least,  a  point  of  contact, 
between  the  social  and  political  institutions  of  the 
two  countries.  I  was  not  able  to  discover  any- 
thing of  the  kind." 

I  am  afraid  that  this  glittering  figure  of  De  La 
Fayette  and  the  statue  of  Liberty  enlightening 
the  world,  offered  by  the  French  sculptor,  M.  Bar- 
tholdi,  are  the  only  luminous  points  in  a  country 
where  our  influence  diminishes  every  day  to  the 
profit  of  a  rival's  influence.  It  is  true  that  the 
best  class  of  people  know  the  part  which  our 
patriotism  had  in  the  conquest  of  their  liberty, 

*  "Drafts  et  Libertes  aux  Etats-Uiits." 

S2 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  53 

and  they  are  polite  enough  to  mention  it  to  you 
when  they  know  that  you  are  a  Frenchman.  The 
heart  always  has  incentives  which  do  not  exist 
with  the  State.  To  undertake  the  adventure 
which  closed  at  Yorktown,  where  De  La  Fayette 
with  six  thousand  French  troops  received  the 
final  surrender  of  Lord  Cornwallis,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  be  what  this  brilliant  young  hero  really 
was  in  1777,  nn  grand  enfant.  But  never  mind, 
France  always  had  such  good -hearted  children, 
and  it  is  for  her  glory.  Egotistical  policy 
needs  such  examples  as  the  one  given  in  1683, 
by  Jean  Sobieski,  King  of  Poland,  who  assisted 
Austria  when  Vienna  was  besieged  by  the  Turks, 
or  the  later  example  of  Napoleon  III.  helping 
Italy. 

In  payment  for  assistance  in  gaining  its  liberty, 
what  has  America  given  to  Europe  in  general,  and 
to  France  in  particular  ? 

Europe  has  to  thank  America  in  the  first  place 
for  a  very  practical  and  immensely  useful  gift  — 
potatoes. 

Secondly,  we  are  obliged  to  this  New  World 
for  tobacco.  It  is  true  that  this  gift  is  of  doubt- 
ful value  if  the  question  of  hygienic  advantage 
alone  is  considered  ;  but,  in  the  household  man- 
agement of  European  nations,  tobacco  has  taken 


54  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

a  very  prominent  place,  and  it  would  be  difficult 
now  to  imagine  the  European  budget  without 
tobacco.  It  is  enough  to  mention  the  fact  that 
in  the  Austrian  revenues  it  represents  eighty-five 
millions  of  florins,  something  like  forty  millions 
of  dollars,  and  in  the  revenue  of  Hungary  over 
forty-six  millions  of  florins,  or  about  twenty-three 
millions  of  dollars. 

In  the  third  place,  although  the  Republic  is, 
without  doubt,  a  European  invention,  it  has,  nev- 
ertheless, in  later  times,  and  at  the  most  important 
periods  of  change,  been  referred  to  as  an  Ameri- 
can import. 

Now  for  the  benefit  to  France. 

At  the  same  time  with  the  four  hundredth 
anniversary  of  the  discovery  of  America,  which 
dates  from  the  fourth  of  August,  1492,  when 
Columbus  sailed  from  the  harbor  of  Palos,  the 
French  republic  celebrated  the  one  hundredth 
anniversary  of  her  birthday. 

I  did  not  notice  that  on  this  occasion  they 
emphasized  the  pedigree  of  the  Convention  of 
September  21,  1792,  from  the  first  great  North- 
ern Republic  of  America,  proclaimed  in  the  Con- 
gress at  Philadelphia,  July  4,  1776.  Yet  there  is 
no  doubt  that,  among  the  many  very  complicated 
causes  which  influenced  the  fall  of  the  historical 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  55 

French  throne,  not  one  contributed  more  power- 
fully than  the  example  of  the  Americans. 

When,  in  the  fall  of  1775,  Lord  Stormont  came 
to  Paris  as  ambassador  extraordinary  of  England, 
in  order  to  learn  the  views  of  the  French  Court 
concerning  the  quarrel  of  England  with  her 
American  colonists,  Maurepas,  as  well  as  Count 
Vergennes,  obstinately  denied  all  sympathy  with 
the  American  rebels,  and  emphasized  the  common 
interests  of  both  courts. 

"  What  has  happened  to  you  to-day  in  Amer- 
ica," said  Count  Vergennes,  "can  not  be  agreeable 
to  any  one." 

Still  further,  on  August  13,  1775,  Count  Ver- 
gennes said  to  the  English  ambassador  : 

"  The  sympathy  of  Frenchmen  for  the  Ameri- 
cans is  a  very  great  and  serious  evil." 

Count  Vergennes  understood  very  well  that  the 
reason  of  the  enthusiasm  for  the  Americans  was 
the  antimonarchical  and  republican  spirit  —  "the 
unbridled  spirit  "-  —  which  Lord  Stormont  had  seen 
everywhere  in  Paris.  Notwithstanding  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  peril,  six  months  after  this  conversa- 
tion the  same  Count  Vergennes,  yielding  to  the 
popular  feeling,  concluded  with  the  United  States 
a  treaty  which  excited  to  the  highest  degree 


56  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

the  republican  enthusiasm  of  the  old  nobility  of 
Versailles. 


The  history  of  France  reads  like  a  novel;  on 
the  other  hand,  too,  often  do  the  novels  and  the 
writers  influence  the  history.  Jean  Jacques  Rous- 
seau had  an  idea  that  Voltaire  influenced  the 
French  Government  to  conquer  Corsica,  with  no 
other  purpose  than  that  he  might  keep  the  "  soli- 
tary man  of  Montmorency  "  from  settling  in  that 
island.  It  is  certainly  true  that,  in  the  question 
of  relations  between  France  and  America,  the 
comedy  writer,  Caron  de  Beaumarchais,  took  a 
great  part.  Won  over  to  the  American  cause  in 
the  house  of  the  celebrated  or  calumniated  John 
Wilkes,  Beaumarchais  came  back  from  London  to 
Paris  in  the  fall  of  1775  ;  in  frequent  conversa- 
tions with  Minister  Vergennes  he  tried  to  show 
him,  by  altogether  illogical  arguments,  the  neces- 
sity of  helping  the  American  colonists  ;  on  Octo- 
ber 2ist  he  presented  a  memorandum  to  the 
king,  and  then  went  back  to  London  as  French 
ambassador. 

Speaking  in  the  way  of  parenthesis,  Beaumar- 
chais did  a  poor  business  in  this  American  drama. 
In  1776,  helped  by  a  subsidy  of  two  millions  of 
francs,  which  the  French  Government  contributed, 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  57 

he  established,  under  the  name  "  Rodrigo  Her- 
talez  et  Co.,"  a  business,  the  aim  of  which  was  to 
furnish  to  the  Americans  munitions  of  war.  He 
did  this  with  such  enthusiasm  that,  in  1777,  he 
furnished  them  with  supplies  to  the  extent  of  five 
millions  of  francs,  without  receiving  a  cent  from 
the  American  Congress.  After  the  war  Congress 
pretended  to  believe  that  the  action  of  Beaumar- 
chais  was  the  voluntary  help  of  the  French  Gov- 
ernment. The  ruined  comedy  writer  made  an 
appeal  to  Congress  in  these  eloquent  words  : 

"  A  nation  which  has  won  power  and  liberty 
may  consider  gratitude  as  a  private  virtue  ;  but 
nothing  discharges  a  State  from  the  duty  of  right- 
eousness and  from  paying  its  debts." 

Finally,  Congress  acknowledged  that  it  owed 
to  Beaumarchais  three  and  a  half  million  francs  ; 
but  they  delayed  the  payment  of  it  under  the 
most  unreasonable  pretext,  and,  afterwards,  posi- 
tively refused  to  pay  it.  As  an  exile  and  a 
beggar,  Beaumarchais,  on  April  10,  1797,  spoke 
to  the  American  Congress  from  Hamburg : 

"  Americans  !  I  served  you  with  enthusiasm, 
and  have  nothing  to  show  for  it  but  sorrow  ;  I  die 
your  creditor.  Let  me  at  least  recommend  my 
daughter  to  you,  and  beg  of  you  to  give  her  a 
dowry  from  the  amount  which  you  owe  me." 


58  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"Date  obolnm  Bclisario  f" 

Congress  did  not  give  him  even  the  alms  which 
he  needed ;  and  his  heirs  received,  instead  of 
three  millions  and  a  half,  eight  hundred  thousand 
francs  ! 

The  worst  result  of  this  American  enthusiasm 
fell  to  the  share  of  Louis  XVI.  The  Declaration 
of  Independence,  written  by  Jefferson,  and  signed 
July  4th,  1776,  was  the  example  for  similar 
declarations  which  were  published  a  little  later  in 
France.  It  is  true  that  the  republican  theories 
were  already  a  la  mode  in  the  drawing-rooms. 
The  future  deputies  knew  by  heart  the  declara- 
tions of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau.  But  it  was  the 
first  time  that  those  theories  had  stepped  out  of 
books  into  the  stage  of  real  life. 

"  All  men  are  born  free  and  equal,"  said  Con- 
gress, in  Philadelphia.  It  is  no  wonder  that  those 
theories,  innocent  enough  in  America,  where  one 
cannot  appeal  to  the  historical  written  laws, 
excited  the  highest  and  most  dangerous  enthu- 
siasm among  the  French  worshippers  of  Rous- 
seau. 

"  Why,"  wrote  the  Abbe  Raynal,  in  his  "Revolu- 
tion dc  rAmeriqnc"  in  1781,  "do  I  not  possess 
the  genius  and  eloquence  of  the  celebrated  orators 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  59 

of  Athens  and  Rome?  With  what  enthusiasm  I 
would  praise  the  noble  men,  who,  by  their  pas- 
sions, intelligence,  and  courage,  built  up  this 
monument  to  liberty  ?  Happy  the  pen  which  will 
preserve  their  names  to  posterity."  Under  the 
portrait  of  one  they  wrote  : 

"  Eripuit  coclo  fulmcn,  sceptrumque  tyrannis." 
"  In  the  benefit  of  the  second  of  these  great 
achievements,  all  mankind  has  a  part.  Heroic 
country !  Old  age  does  not  permit  me  to  see 
you ;  I  shall  die  without  having  seen  the  land  of 
toleration,  good  customs,  laws,  virtues,  and  lib- 
erty." 

How  did  such  enthusiasm  look  to  the  French 
monarchy  ?  It  is  easy  to  guess.  It  saw  the  very 
clever  trick  resorted  to  by  the  American  Congress, 
in  order  to  speak  with  effect  to  the  antimonar- 
chical  tendencies  of  those  times.  It  accused,  in 
fierce  terms,  George  III.,  and  him  alone,  of 
twenty -eight  deliberate  crimes.  If  we  take  into 
consideration  the  fact  that  the  English  king,  of  all 
others,  possessed  the  least  liberty  to  satisfy  his 
love  of  despotism,  and  that,  if  there  were  some 
abuses  in  the  relations  of  England  toward  the 
American  colonies,  the  whole  responsibility  fell 
upon  the  English  Parliament,  then  the  fierce 


60  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

polemic  of  Congress  against  the  English  despot 
looks  like  a  mere  manoeuvre. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  cleverly  done. 
But  if  in  this  affair  it  was  a  question  of  tyranny, 
of  the  tyranny  of  the  English  people  towards 
Americans,  then  Turgot  said  with  truth  : 

"  Of  all  tyrannies,  the  most  cruel  and  most  in- 
supportable is  the  tyranny  of  the  people,  because 
such  tyranny  does  not  permit  the  oppressed 
people  to  have  any  hope.  While  the  despot  is 
influenced  by  his  conscience,  interests,  and  public 
opinion,  the  people  never  have  any  remorse  of 
conscience,  and  decree  themselves  glory  by  the 
commission  of  the  most  horrid  crimes." 

It  was,  then,  in  fact,  a  fight  between  the 
American  and  English  peoples  ;  but  the  American 
Congress  knew  how  to  turn  the  question  cleverly, 
and  future  French  Girondists  and  Jacobins,  who 
were  not  seeking  for  the  truth,  enthusiastically 
appropriated  American  phraseology  and  repeated 
it  in  French  Parliaments. 

To  check  this  republican  spirit,  to  point  out  to 
the  French  nation  the  road  to  reforms,  and  to  stay 
the  approach  of  revolution,  was  the  task  of  the 
king  and  the  highest  class  of  society.  Unhappily, 
a  weak  king,  under  unhealthy  influences,  and  by 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  6 1 

his  treaty  with  the  American  republicans,  had 
himself  helped  revolutionary  movement  and,  one 
can  say,  approved  it. 

The  nobility,  since  Louis  XIV.  had  called  it  to 
Versailles,  and  made  it  dependent  on  the  favors  of 
court,  had  lost  its  strength  of  character  and  its 
independence. 

In  the  Parisian  salons,  American  republicanism 
was  fashionable. 

When,  at  the  end  of  the  year  1776,  Franklin, 
sent  by  Congress,  made  his  appearance  in  the 
drawing-rooms,  they  made  him  the  idol  of  the 
grand  monde.  This  disorganized  society  thought 
it  saw  in  this  Quaker  a  republican  of  the  days  of 
Plato  or  Fabius,  or  the  personification  of  the 
"man  of  nature"  of  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau. 
They  welcomed  him  as  "  the  messenger  from  a 
New  World,  and  of  a  better  epoch." 

As  Count  Segur  affirms,  he  was  visited  by  the 
most  eminent  people  of  the  court  and  the  capital, 
the  philosophers  and  literati ;  this  last  class 
thought  that  the  progress  of  free  thought  in 
America  was  the  result  of  their  own  writings,  and 
their  "  desire  was  to  become,  some  day,  the  legis- 
lators of  Europe,  just  as  their  pupils  had  become 
legislators  in  America." 

They   were   wrong,    because    the    republic    in 


62  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

America,  where  there  are  no  "old  castles,"  and  no 
historical  monarchy,  was  more  the  product  of  the 
soil,  than  the  fruit  of  philosophical  theories. 
Such  was  the  profit  to  France. 

The  republic  in  America  has  been  more  stable 
than  its  sister  in  France  since  1792.  One  can 
explain  this  difference  by  historical  evolution,  or, 
perhaps,  by  the  different  tempers  of  these  two 
peoples.  It  is  true  that  to-day  we  look  with  pity 
on  the  enthusiasm  which  was  excited  by  the  birth 
of  the  American  Republic,  because  it  has  not 
become  the  promised  land  of  civic  virtues,  nor  of 
all  those  beneficent  agencies  which  tend  to  lift 
humanity  above  the  lower  level  of  brutal  egotism 
and  material  instincts. 

Time  has  wrought  the  extension  of  republican 
ideas  through  America  ;  the  last  throne  —  that  of 
Brazil  —  fell  not  long  since.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
say  that  this  example  of  the  New  World  presents 
to-day  any  attractive  features  to  the  ripened  Euro- 
pean minds. 

The  restrained  liberty  of  the  Americans  —  the 
result  of  successful  French  intervention  in  their 
behalf  —  is  never  more  in  evidence  than  in  the 
forum.  The  common  and  declamatory  eloquence 
of  the  United  States,  known  as  "  Spread-eagle 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  63 

Oratory,"  is  used  in  invoking  the  brilliant  personal- 
ity of  this  "endorser  of  all  revolutions,"  as  the 
Marquis  de  La  Fayette  was  called. 

But  this  is  all,  and  even  this  often  repeated,  and, 
by  force  of  repetition,  ever  present  fact,  did  not 
prevent  General  Grant,  for  instance,  from  drinking 
to  the  prosperity  of  the  German  army  after  the 
horrid  affair  of  Sedan ;  nor  did  it  prevent  the  mob 
from  dragging  in  the  mud,  and  afterward  hanging, 
the  effigy  of  the  unfortunate,  but  noble-minded, 
Napoleon  III.,  one  of  the  greatest  French  mon- 
archs. 

Of  course,  the  last  fact  can  be  explained  by  the 
strength  of  the  German  element  in  New  York,  but 
I  would  like  to  have  an  explanation  of  the  action 
of  such  a  man  as  Grant. 

I  met  at  Newport,  in  1894,  Mr.  Edward  W. 
Very,  who  was  a  naval  attache  of  the  United  States 
legation  at  Paris  during  the  Franco-Prussian  War. 
He  tried,  by  hazy  arguments,  to  explain  to  me,  on 
philanthropic  grounds,  the  attitude  of  the  Govern- 
ment at  Washington  and  the  diplomatic  note  of 
Bancroft.  I  am  forced  to  acknowledge  that  he 
talked  very  cleverly,  but  I  cannot  accept  his  argu- 
ments as  logical.  Would  not  it  have  been  real 
philanthropy,  if  Mr.  Very  will  ride  this  hobby,  to 
have  ended  so  horrid  a  war,  and  to  have  saved  to 


64  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

the  sister  nation   (spread-eagle  eloquence)  a  few 
billions  of  francs  ? 

But  what  is  the  secret  of  the  strong  bond  of 
sympathy  between  America  and  the  Germans  ? 

The  American  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
German,  except  the  Prussian  casque  a  point  e, 
which  I  have  seen  on  so  many  of  their  militia. 
Compare  his  profoundly  democratic  instincts  with 
the  aristocratic  traditions  of  Germany;  consider 
his  extreme  disdain  of  forms,  his  political  cus- 
toms free  from  all  territorial  influences,  his 
social  life,  and  his  contempt  for  conditions  of 
birth  and  for  claims  of  nobility,  which  are  so 
powerful  and  so  much  respected  in  Germany ; 
observe  closely  the  excessive  mobility  and  mar- 
vellous elasticity  with  which  he  follows,  by  turns, 
all  careers,  commencing,  as  Abraham  Lincoln  did, 
with  rail-splitting,  and  dying  President  of  the  Re- 
public. 

And  then,  there  are  so  many  French  souvenirs 
scattered  all  over  the  country.  In  the  first  place 
there  are  names,  too  numerous  to  mention,  of 
States,  cities,  towns,  villages,  lakes,  and  rivers, 
which  at  once  suggest  early  French  explorers  and 
settlers.  The  very  beginning  of  the  American 
War  for  Independence  recalled  the  French  name 


FRANCE   IN  AMERICA.  65 

of  Paul  Revere,  who  inspired  the  great  American 
poet  with  the  beautiful  ballad,  beginning  : 

"  Listen,  my  children,  and  you  shall  hear 
Of  the  midnight  ride  of  Paul  Revere. 
On  the  eighteenth  of  April,  in  '75-" 

In  Boston,  a  Frenchman,  by  the  name  of  Fan- 
euil,  gave  to  the  city  the  hall  which  is  now  called, 
in  the  English  way,  "  Fanuel." 

You  find  such  French  names  in  America  as  Bay- 
ard, De  Courtney,  De  Blois,  De  la  Motte,  or  sim- 
ply Motte ;  De  Pierpont,  or  simply  Pierpont,  etc. 

The  most  original  American  painter,  Lafarge, 
is  of  French  extraction ;  the  same  is  with  Abbey, 
Vonnoh,  Graves. 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  America, 
Chauncey  Depew,  said  once  at  a  banquet  : 

"  I  am  proud  that  I  have  French  blood  in  my 
veins ; "  the  name  of  Depew  is  only  a  corrup- 
tion of  the  French  name  Dupuis,  or  Dupuy,  as 
Drew  is  corrupted  from  De  Dreux." 

The  magnificent  institution  in  Philadelphia 
reminds  you  of  the  French  Girard,  who  gave  all 
his  money  to  found  it.  And  consider  such  his- 
torical characters  as  Marion,  John  Jay,  Audubon, 
Fremont,  Gallaudet,  General  Thomas,  and  many 
others,  all  French  in  origin. 


66  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  celebrated  inscription  on  the  portrait  of 
Franklin,  which  is  always  proudly  associated  with 
his  name  by  Americans,  — 

"Eripuit  ccelo  fulinen,  sceptnunque  tyrannis" 

was  written  by  the  French  minister,  Turgot. 

In  one  of  the  public  places  in  Philadelphia,  the 
statue  erected  by  Congress  to  Louis  XVI.  bears 
this  inscription  : 

"  Post  Deum 
Diligenda  et  servanda  est  libertas 

Maximis  empta  laboribus 
Humanique  sanguinis  flumine  irrigata 

Per  imminentia  belli  perictila 

Invante 
Optimo  Gallorum  principe  Rege 

Lndoinco  XVI. 
Hanc  statuam  Principi  augustissimo 

Consecraiiit 
Et  (zterncun  pretiosamque  benefici 

Memoriam 
Grata  Reipubliccz  veneratio 

Ulfimis  tradit  nepotibus" 

The  development  of  the  American  press  is 
united  with  the  name  of  Louis  Philippe,  Due 
d' Orleans,  who  presented  to  Bursell,  editor  of  the 
Boston  Sentinel,  in  1796,  a  geographical  atlas, 
which  was  then  a  very  rare  book  in  the  United 


FRANCE   IN  AMERICA.  67 

States ;  this  modest  present  was  a  fortune  for 
the  Sentinel. 

Your  art  is  based  on  French  art ;  your  best  peo- 
ple and  prettiest  women  and  girls  speak  French. 

The  American  women  prefer  the  French  fash- 
ions ;  French  wines  contribute  largely  to  your 
pleasure  in  life. 

"  Evangeline,"  that  splendid  masterpiece  of 
American  poetry,  was  inspired  by  a  French  story 
of  a  young  couple  in  Acadia,  which  was  told  to 
Hawthorne  and  repeated  by  him  to  Longfellow. 

You  cannot  go  South  without  thinking  of 
Chateaubriand,  who  sang  of  the  beauties  and 
splendor  of  nature. 

In  the  Southwest  you  will  meet  French  souve- 
nirs at  every  step,  with  this  difference  from  the 
English  souvenirs,  that  the  latter  have  no  charm 
for  the  Americans,  while  the  former  naturally 
suggest  some  poetic  sweetness. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  represent  the  spirit  of  en- 
terprise, commercial  energy,  industrial  boldness, 
and  financial  aptness  ;  their  life  depends  more,  as 
one  of  your  writers  says,  "  on  animal  spirit  and 
enjoyment  of  living  for  their  happiness,  than  upon 
any  natural  or  acquired  mental  powers ; "  in  a 
word,  they  represent  the  material  and  prosaic 
power  of  modern  life. 


68  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  French  genius,  with  its  refined  taste,  its 
literature  and  arts,  personifies  the  poetic  side  of 
humanity. 

The  talent  for  collecting  millions,  for  stock- 
jobbing, for  forming  piratical  trusts,  for  the  coali- 
tion of  capital,  is  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
highest  role  in  the  scale  of  progress,  the  highest 
criterion  of  civilization,  or  the  supreme  aim  of 
man  on  earth. 

For  those  who,  authorized  by  our  disaster,  deny 
the  genius  of  France  for  colonization,  and  tri- 
umphantly point  for  example  to  England,  there  is 
history  to  show  that  conquest  is  not  colonization, 
and  to  show,  too,  that  wherever  France  has 
passed,  she  has  left  very  deep  traces,  which  are 
respected  even  by  time.  In  America,  Louisiana 
and  Canada  still  testify  to  their  French  sympathies, 
and  preserve  the  indelible  mark  of  our  race. 

What  remains  in  the  United  States  of  the 
English  traditions  and  souvenirs  of  the  mother- 
land ? 

If  to-morrow  the  empire  of  India  were  crushed, 
what  would  remain  from  two  centuries  of  English 
domination  in  the  hearts  and  traditions  of  the 
ryas  ? 

New  York  is  cosmopolitan  ;  Boston  and  Phila- 
delphia, American  ;  Cincinnati  is  German  ;  Chicago 


FRANCE   IN  AMERICA.  69 

is  becoming   German ;  but    New   Orleans   is   still 
French ! 

Find  in  the  United  States  an  English  town ; 
there  are  none. 

If  colonization  consists  only  in  the  exploitation 
of  the  land  by  immigrants  for  the  profit  of  the 
mother -country,  England  is,  beyond  doubt,  the 
first  power  in  the  world  in  that  respect  ;  but  such 
work  is  destined  to  disappear  in  the  day  when  the 
colony  cute  loose  or  rebels.  Every  conquest  which 
does  not  end  with  fusion  or  absolute  substitution 
is  only  temporary.  Portugal  and  Spain,  in  the 
sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  knew  how 
to  colonize  ;  both,  notwithstanding  their  cruelties, 
which  history  has  justly  condemned,  have  carried 
civilization  to  the  native  peoples,  whose  territories 
they  occupied. 

Sweeter  and  more  human,  more  sympathetic 
toward  the  conquered  races,  France  knew  how  to 
make  herself  loved  by  them,  and  one  finds,  even 
now,  among  the  southern  Indian  tribes  an  affec- 
tionate remembrance  of  our  colonization. 

To-day,  after  more  than  a  century  of  foreign 
domination,  notwithstanding  the  stream  of  immi- 
gration, in  which  England  figures  to  the  extent  of 
fifty,  and  France  to  the  extent  of  seven  only,  in 
every  hundred,  in  spite  of  the  commercial  and 


7O  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

political  interests,  and  of  clever  administration  by 
the  government  of  England,  there  are  in  Canada 
a  million  and  a  half  of  people  who  are  the  descend- 
ants of  the  few  thousand  immigrants  abandoned 
by  France  in  this  distant  land ;  they  form  an 
energetic  and  lively  nation.  Faithful  to  the  noble 
traditions  of  the  past,  they  knew  how  to  preserve 
intact,  in  the  midst  of  numerous  vicissitudes,  the 
language  and  polite  manners  that  we  have  trans- 
mitted to  them.  Time,  which  effaces  everything 
and  carries  away  everything,  has  not  been  able  to 
weaken,  in  French  Canada,  the  disinterested  devo- 
tion which  its  population  pays  to  the  memory  of 
France. 

Then  the  profoundly  sympathetic  genius  of  our 
race  has  not  said  its  last  word.  Even  our  con- 
queror of  yesterday  affirms  it,  and  is  jealous  of  its 
progress,  and  still  shows  his  anxiety. 

Trials  inflicted  by  fickle  fortune  have  been 
bravely  borne  by  a  people,  who  know  how  and  by 
what  efforts  one  rises,  and  that,  if  only  he  observes 
what  passes  around  him,  he  may  regain  his 
courage. 

Retired  within  herself,  France  finds  again  the 
secret  of  her  grandeur,— a  homogeneity  which  no 
other  nation  possesses. 


FRANCE  IN  AMERICA.  /I 

The  power  of  England,  of  Germany,  is  formed 
on  different  and  contrary  elements,  an  inexhausti- 
ble source  of  conflicts. 

In  Germany,  the  provinces  recently  taken  from 
Denmark  and  from  France  bear  with  silence,  but 
not  with  resignation,  the  yoke  of  the  victor ; 
South  Germany  mutters,  and  force  alone  holds 
that  which  force  has  seized. 

England  sees  Canada  and  Australia  ready  to 
free  themselves,  and  in  India  Russia  is  waiting  an 
opportunity. 

France  is  compact,  united  against  her  enemies, 
and  to-day  she  is  not  afraid;  already  she  has 
regained  by  her  material  and  spiritual  develop- 
ment the  sympathies  of  the  feeble,  the  respect 
of  the  strong ;  confidence  in  herself  and  in  her 
great  vitality  is  the  distinctive  mark  of  her  people, 
against  which  time  and  victory  of  the  foreigner 
cannot  avail,  which  will  raise  her  when  the  hour 
has  come,  and  then  —  the  American  will  exchange 
the  casques  a  pointe  for  the  French  kepis. 

The  true  status  of  France  among  the  nations  is 
well  defined  in  the  following  sentence  of  one  of 
her  ablest  thinkers,  M.  Taine : 

"  When  the  savage  Muscovite,  the  thickheaded 
German,  the  clumsy  Englishman,  the  barbarian 


72  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

or  half  barbarian  of  the  North,  leaves  his  whisky, 
his  pipe,  his  furs,  his  feudal  life  of  the  hunter  and 
the  boor,  it  is  to  our  salons  and  to  our  books  that 
he  comes  to  study  art,  how  to  salute,  to  smile,  and 
to  converse." 


CHAPTER    IV. 

MILLIONAIRES. 

"  \\ THO  is  Mrs"  wyndham  ? " 

VV  "Mrs.  Wyndham  —  she  is  Sam  Wynd- 
ham's  wife.  Just  that." 

"  And  Sam  Wyndham  ?  " 

"Oh  —  he  is  one  of  the  prevalent  profession. 
He  is  a  millionaire.  In  fact,  he  is  one  of  the  real 
ones." 

"  When  do  they  get  to  be  real  ?  " 

"  Oh,  when  they  have  more  than  ten  millions. 
The  other  ones  do  not  count  much.  It  is  much 
more  the  thing  to  be  poor,  unless  you  have  ten 
millions." 

America  was  too  democratic  to  have  one  king 
or  emperor ;  she  prefers  to  have  many. 

So  the  Goulds  and  the  others  can  stop  all  rail- 
road communication.  Rockefeller  can  plunge  the 
whole  country  into  darkness  worse  than  Egyptian. 
The  great  trust  can  starve  the  country,  and,  actu- 
ally, while  I  am  writing  this,  there  is  a  scarcity  of 
meat  in  the  market  on  account  of  disturbance  in 

73 


74  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Chicago.  Their  majesties,  the  Vanderbilts  and 
Astors,  can  injure  business  more,  by  controlling 
their  money  market,  than  can  any  ruler  in  Europe. 
The  "Trust  of  the  Big  Four,"  the  "Sugar  Trust," 
the  "Standard  Oil  Trust,"  the  "Binding  Twine 
Trust,"  have  more  power  than  the  Czar  of  Russia. 

If,  in  the  United  States  and  in  England,  money 
occupies  the  first  place,  it  is  the  only  criterion 
of  success  in  the  United  States,  and  because  in 
England,  where  social  categories  are  sharply 
marked,  it  appears  as  the  leveller  of  barriers,  as 
a  means  by  which  those  who  are  nobody  may 
hope  to  be  somebody. 

But  to-day  you  must  have,  not  thirty  millions, 
like  Sir  Gladiator,  whom  Labiche  immortalized, 
but  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  or  more. 

The  characteristic  of  the  American  millionaire 
is  a  sort  of  perfectly  unceremonious  but  false 
simplicity,  which  he  utilizes  in  business ;  he  is 
easily  familiar  with  everybody,  accepts  a  slap  on 
the  shoulder  or  a  friendly  poke  in  the  ribs,  pro- 
vided "there  is  a  dollar  in  it." 

"  How  do  you  do,  Jack  ? "  is  the  proper  greet- 
ing for  him. 

Those  fellows,  if  they  do  not  shine  with  the 
quintessence  of  refinement,  are  at  least  proper; 


MILLIONAIRES.  75 

they  are  even  very  proper  and  correct  in  their 
places  of  business,  or  when  seen  among  men  ;  but 
once  in  the  drawing-room,  among  ladies,  you  can 
notice  immediately  their  weak  points,  their  lack  of 
perfect  polish. 

As  to  the  origin  of  their  fortune,  you  must 
not  examine  too  closely.  If  it  were  necessary  to 
count  the  suicides  of  which  they  have  been  the 
cause,  and  all  the  causes  of  madness,  one  would 
obtain  a  frightful  total.  Is  not  this  always  the 
history  of  speculation?  It  is  often  the  case 
that  those  kings  of  gold  have  some  crooked 
methods,  which,  happily,  are  more  rare  in  Europe, 
and  which,  in  other  countries,  would  bring  them  to 
the  criminal  court. 

It  is  strange  that  they  will  do  all  things  for  the 
sake  of  money,  for  the  sake  of  piling  up  gold,  when 
so  many  of  them  live  in  very  quiet  style.  Just 
imagine  my  astonishment,  when  I  called  on  a  man 
whose  fortune  is  estimated  at  twenty  millions, 
at  seeing  a  servant  girl  open  the  door  for  me. 

There  are,  to  be  sure,  millionaires  in  New 
York  who  have  secretaries,  butlers,  housekeepers, 
palace -cars  at  their  disposal  when  travelling  on 
the  continent,  and  yachts  for  the  ocean  ;  but  how 
many  more  live  in  a  very  economical  way! 

One  millionaire,  for  instance,   spends   much  of 


/6  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

his  time  in  playing  cards  with  some  obscure  cleri- 
cal friend,  and  his  only  luxury  is  in  riding  an  old 
white  horse;  he  piles  up  money  just  for  the 
pleasure  of  possessing  it. 

"What  is  there  in  life  more  agreeable  than 
money?"  he  said,  to  a  friend. 

Surely  a  strange  conception  of  the  pleasures  of 
life !  There  are  many  others  of  the  same  kind. 

Every  millionaire,  who  respects  himself,  has  a 
collection  of  pictures.  The  millionaires  being  very 
numerous  in  America,  there  are  many  collectors, 
but  very  few  connoisseurs. 

For  to  have  sold  pork  all  one's  life,  speculated 
in  real  estate,  or  gathered  millions  from  the 
pockets  of  one's  fellow -speculators,  does  not  em- 
power one  to  distinguish  a  masterpiece  from  a 
daub ;  but  still,  such  is  the  pretension  of  most 
parvenues. 

When  one  is  rich,  one  must  be  surrounded  by 
the  evidences  of  wealth,  and  imitate  the  people  of 
old  Europe.  Consequently,  the  millionaire  col- 
lects works  of  art,  for  this  reason  at  first,  and, 
secondly,  because  it  will  advertise  him.  He  must 
pay  enormous  prices  for  his  collection  ;  then  he 
can  read  in  the  papers : 

"  Mr.  John  S —  -  has  paid  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars for  '  The  Old  Woman,'  of  Rembrandt.  We 


MILLIONAIRES.  77 

must  cordially  congratulate  the  amateur  who,  by 
intelligent  purchases,  develops  in  our  country  a 
taste  for  the  best  in  art !  " 

From  this  time,  our  man  will  be  well  known ; 
the  press  will  treat  him  as  a  Maecenas,  and  will 
often  refer  to  his  fabulous  purchases.  If  he 
organizes  a  corporation  or  company,  more  or  less 
abracadabrante,  subscribers  will  rush  in.  A  fellow 
who  buys  a  piece  of  canvas  for  fifty  thousand 
dollars  must  be  very  solid,  and  inspires  absolute 
confidence.  In  short,  his  pictures  will  bring  him 
better  returns  than  if  he  had  spent  fifty  thousand 
dollars  for  advertising. 

The  majority  of  such  patrons  of  art  do  not 
know  the  pleasant  sensation  inspired  by  good 
pictures ;  they  know  their  value  only  by  the 
name  of  some  famous  artist.  So,  when  Foxcroft 
Cole  brought  the  first  Corot  to  this  country, 
everybody  wanted  to  get  a  Corot  ;  then  Rousseau, 
Daubigny,  and  Diaz  became  the  fashion.  Then 
William  Hunt  made  Ouincy  Shaw,  of  Boston, 
buy  a  few  Millets,  and  everybody  spoke  of  Millet 
then,  and  tried  to  get  something  from  his  hand. 

One  of  the  richest  men  in  New  England  had  a 
collection  of  the  best  pictures  of  the  school  of 
Barbizon,  but  it  is  alleged  they  were  not  all 
selected  by  him. 


78  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

In  1886,  several  Americans  bought  the  pictures 
of  Monet,  Pissaro,  Manet,  Sisley,  etc.,  at  the 
exhibition  organized  by  the  house  of  Durand-Ruel, 
in  New  York.  But  do  they  understand  the 
beauties  of  those  masters,  and,  especially,  the 
astonishing  genius  of  Monet  ? 

I  wish  that  they  did,  and  that  their  purchases 
were  not  guided  by  fashion  merely,  nor  made  to 
satisfy  that  peculiarity,  characteristic  of  Ameri- 
cans, a  liking  for  new  things,  no  matter  in  what 
direction. 

I  must  add  that  there  are  some  people  of  good 
taste  in  this  country  who  know  how  to  buy  works 
of  high  quality,  such  as  Mr.  Quincy  Shaw,  Mrs. 
Warren,  and  Mrs.  Kimball,  in  Boston ;  Messrs. 
Potter  Palmer,  Yerkes,  Ellesworth,  Henry  Field, 
in  Chicago ;  Fuller,  Lambert,  Lawrence,  King- 
man,  and  Sutton,  in  New  York.  I  suppose  there 
are  many  others  that  I  do  not  know. 

But  how  many  are  there,  who  have  bought 
works  of  art  solely  to  satisfy  their  aesthetic  taste  ? 

But  this  does  not  prevent  the  Americans  from 
taking  from  us  the  most  marvellous  masterpieces 
of  our  ancient  and  modern  schools.  They  have 
the  means  to  get  them  :  ncrvns  re  rum,  money ! 

Let  us  bow  to  them,  and  let  us  try  to  defend 
ourselves  as  best  we  may.  We  may  find  some 


MILLIONAIRES.     •  79 

consolation  for  our  loss  of  a  few  good  works 
in  thinking  of  the  great  number  of  canvases, 
which  have  been  sold  to  Americans  as  gen- 
uine, and  which  were  daubs  made  by  some 
young  painter  in  debt,  or  by  a  professional  work- 
ing under  the  direction  of  the  conscienceless 
picture  dealers. 

In  this  chapter  on  millionaires,  I  must  not 
overlook  the  pcnsionnat  fi n-de -sihlc. 

Eighty  young  girls  under  the  same  roof, —  and 
all  millionaires  !  —  are  entrusted  to  the  care  of 
two  ladies,  Misses  Mary  and  Jane  Ely,  whose  es- 
tablishment, situated  on  Riverside  Drive,  one  of 
the  fashionable  parts  of  New  York,  is  the  most 
ultra  cJiic  on  the  American  continent. 

The  millionaire  mammas  of  the  East,  the  wives 
of  the  silver  kings  and  pork-packers  of  the  West, 
send  their  daughters  to  the  establishment  of  the 
Misses  Ely  to  receive  there  a  modern  pattern, 
and  to  be  promptly  transformed  into  fashionable 
young  women.  When  they  go  out  from  the 
hands  of  the  Misses  Ely,  they  are  entirely  comme 
il  fant,  according  to  the  rules  of  American 
etiquette. 

The  study  of  history  probably  finds  its  place 
in  the  curriculum  of  this  remarkable  institution, 
but  it  is  only  a  secondary  branch.  The  time 


80  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

passed  under  the  maidenly  wings  of  Misses  Mary 
and  Jane  is  only  a  preparation  for  the  great  com- 
edy of  society,  in  which  every  young  and  rich 
girl  is  called  to  play  the  first  part. 

Every  day  they  are  instructed  in  the  proper 
management  of  a  home ;  they  practise  entering 
a  drawing-room  correctly,  or  carrying  gracefully 
a  tray  laden  with  cups  of  tea ;  they  teach  them 
also  how  to  give  a  dinner,  to  converse  agreeably 
with  a  gentleman  who  leads  them  to  the  table. 

The  institution  is  a  large  building,  in  Old  Colo- 
nial style,  of  light -yellow  brick.  The  outer  doors 
open  on  the  grounds,  in  the  midst  of  which  are  a 
number  of  tennis  courts.  The  front  faces  the 
Hudson  River.  One  can  hardly  imagine  a  more 
pleasant,  picturesque,  or  hygienic  situation.  On 
the  ground  floor  is  a  parlor  for  the  young  girls  ; 
there  their  weekly  receptions  take  place,  and  they 
give  their  soirees  and  dances.  In  order  to  render 
them  absolutely  perfect  in  their  conversation,  they 
have  the  privilege  of  receiving  young  men.  This 
liberty  is  so  much  the  more  appreciated,  as  it  is 
not  tolerated  in  similar  institutions. 

The  parlor  is  furnished  with  magnificence. 
There  are  large,  inviting  chairs ;  works  of  art 
decorate  the  walls ;  there  is  a  beautiful  piano ; 


MILLIONAIRES.  8 1 

splendid  lamps  and  bibelots,  —  called  in  this  coun- 
try, without  any  reason,  bric-a-brac,  —  embellish 
this  room,  sumptuous  as  a  Parisian  salon,  vast 
as  a  theatre. 

Every  hour,  one  can  see  there  young  girls  who 
take  lessons  in  correct  manners  and  good  beha- 
viour. If,  during  one  of  the  receptions,  one  of 
them  walks  awkwardly  upon  the  train  of  one  of 
her  companions,  or  lets  fall  a  few  drops  of  tea  on 
the  coat  of  a  guest,  one  of  the  mistresses  takes 
her  quietly,  and,  during  several  days,  they  drill  her 
in  walking  in  the  midst  of  the  most  complicated 
trains,  and  in  holding  her  cup  of  tea  while  talking. 

Training  in  manners  for  the  table  is  given  im- 
portance equal  to  the  lesson  in  behaviour  at  the 
"five  o'clock." 

The  dining-room,  in  which  about  one  hundred 
persons  can  find  room,  is  next  to  the  parlour. 
The  table  is  always  sumptuously  dressed,  as  in  a 
fashionable  home,  and  the  food  is  of  the  choicest. 

The  menus  are  printed  in  French,  and  the  ser- 
vice is  by  the  most  accomplished  waiters,  who  are 
obliged  to  talk  French.  Naturally,  the  dinner  is 
the  principal  repast  —  a  gala  dinner,  such  as  are 
given  in  the  houses  of  millionaires,  very  costly, 
very  well  chosen. 

Every  girl  comes  to  the  table  in  evening  dress. 


82  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  other  rooms  of  the  ground  floor  are  used 
for  study. 

Some  of  the  girls  share  the  same  room,  but  the 
majority  have  separate  rooms. 

Let  us  enter  the  room  of  Miss  K.  G.,  a  young 
heiress,  whose  appearance  in  New  York  society  is 
awaited  with  great  impatience. 

Upon  the  floor  of  old  oak,  shining  as  a  mirror, 
is  extended  a  beautiful  rug.  The  windows,  look- 
ing on  the  Hudson,  are  ornamented  with  curtains 
of  white  muslin,  held  back  by  bows  of  blue  satin. 
The  walls  are  covered  with  light -blue  stuff.  A 
bedstead  of  polished  brass,  a  little  desk  in  rose- 
wood, with  Louis  XV.  glass,  surrounded  with 
pictures,  a  sofa,  a  piano,  a  table  on  which  is  a 
service  of  Sevres,  give  us  an  idea  of  the  comfort 
with  which  the  Misses  Ely  provide  the  rooms  of 
their  elegant  boarders. 

On  the  second  floor  is  a  gymnasium,  where  the 
classes  come  every  day  to  exercise  ;  for  the  aim  of 
the  school  is  to  make  the  young  girls  perfect  in 
form  and  grace  of  person. 

Even  the  dry  ing -room  for  the  linen  of  this 
establishment  is  interesting  and  original. 

How  different  from  the  clothes-lines  of  your 
ordinary  boarding-school  ! 

And  when  you  look  on  this  line  of  fine  linen, 


MILLIONAIRES.  83 

those  skirts  of  pink  and  blue  silk,  those  little 
embroidered  handkerchiefs,  those  beads  of  stock- 
ings in  all  colors,  you  think  of  your  times  of  pen- 
sion, you  hear  mamma's  voice  reading  the  list  of 
your  trousseau  !  No  ruches,  no  lace  in  the  pension 
of  the  other  times  ! 

The  rules  permit  a  dozen  of  "pieces"  in  all, 
each  week,  while  the  pupils  of  the  Misses  Ely 
have  a  right  to  two  dozen  large  pieces,  without 
counting  handkerchiefs  of  fine  linens  and  silk 
stockings. 

In  this  pensionnat  fin-de-sttcle ,  price  for  board 
and  tuition  is  very  high ;  and  then  come  the 
extras,  as  the  music,  for  instance ;  a  lesson  of 
half  an  hour  in  singing  costs  five  dollars. 

When  a  pupil  goes  to  take  a  lesson  at  the  house 
of  a  professor  in  the  city,  it  is  one  dollar  extra  for 
a  chaperon ;  it  is  the  same  when  she  goes  to  see 
the  dentist,  doctor,  dressmaker,  or  to  make  a 
call. 

The  rules  are  rigourous  ;  one  cannot  put  her 
aristocratic  nose  out-of-doors  without  being  ac- 
companied, and  she  has  to  pay  for  the  accompani- 
ment. If  such  customs  inspire  confidence  in  the 
parents  it  is  very  lucrative  to  the  house. 

Notwithstanding  the  big  price,  the  establish- 
ment of  Riverside  Drive  is  always  full.  Eighty 


84  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

pupils  stay  there ;  there  will  be  no  vacant  places 
for  two  years. 

The  pupils  are  from  fifteen  to  twenty,  and, 
already,  they  impress  one  as  women  perfectly 
armed  for  the  battle  of  society. 

The  purpose  of  this  institution  is  not  to  give 
solid  instruction ;  it  is  for  one  thing  only :  to 
make  of  young  girls  women  of  society,  who  have 
the  air  of  knowing  something. 

All  speak  French  fluently,  recite  poetry,  are 
something  as  musicians,  and  know  enough  arith- 
metic to  spend  their  pocket-money  ;  then — they 
go  out  with  a  diploma. 

When  they  are  ready  for  the  conquest  of  an 
English,  Italian,  German,  or  even  French  coat  of 
arms,  they  return  home  with  grand  airs,  which  are 
imposing  even  to  their  mothers,  who  were  edu- 
cated, if  at  all,  in  a  village  school,  and  who  are 
glad  to  have  chosen  so  well  a  pensionnat  for  their 
daughters. 

Some  one  has  said — I  think  without  truth  — 
that  Isaac  Walton,  who  wrote  "  The  Complete 
Angler,"  never  caught  a  fish,  and  yet  he  has  been 
an  able  teacher.  Is  it  in  much  the  same  way  that 
the  Misses  Ely  instruct  their  young  misses  in  the 
most  advanced  methods  of  making  a  "catch  ? " 

When  the  desire  of  having  a  large  fortune  is 


MILLIONAIRES.  85 

satisfied,  then  comes  another ;  that  is  to  say,  a 
desire  to  have  a  superior  position  in  society, 
a  rather  difficult  matter  among  people  of  the 
same  wealth  and  the  same  low  origin  ;  the  only 
way  is  to  have  the  honour,  or,  rather,  the  vanity 
(since  such  an  abstract  thing  as  honour  does  not 
exist  among  and  is  seldom  spoken  of  by  them)  of 
entertaining  some  man  or  woman  who  has  a  title. 
If  they  can  have  a  baron,  a  count,  a  marquis,  or 
a  prince  in  their  drawing-room,  or  to  a  dinner,  it 
becomes  "all  the  rage,"  as  no  one  can  be  more 
aristocratic  than  the  American  rich  set,  although 
they  live  under  a  democratic  regime. 

"  It  is  not  everybody  that  can  speak  with  Miss 

G ,"  said  a  lady  in  P —  -  to  me,  where  I  had 

the  opportunity  of  meeting  the  daughter  of  a 
millionaire. 

"  Madame,  I  am  very  flattered,  but  such  a  re- 
mark was  never  made  to  me  in  Europe  where  I 
have  chatted  with  princesses  of  blood,"  was  my 
reply. 

Although  they  may  occasionally  address  you  as 
"Mr.  Count,"  they  will  still  be  very  happy  to  be 
able  to  speak  of  their  friend  "  Count  So  and  So  ;  " 
and  will  find  a  way  of  referring  to  him  several 
times  in  a  few  moments  of  conversation. 

"I   travelled  with   Prince  Galicin,  in  Canada," 


86  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

a  snob  said  to  me.  "  Of  course  we  were  in  the 
same  Pullman  car,  we  stopped  at  the  same  hotel, 
and  ate  at  the  same  table.  It  was  a  splendid 
opportunity  for  me  to  meet  such  a  distinguished 
personage." 

I  understand  the  pleasure  of  satisfying  the  van- 
ity of  travelling  with  the  prince,  and  of  telling  me 
of  it,  but  it  was  rather  too  much  to  say  that  he 
travelled  in  the  same  Pullman  car  with  him. 

I  met  a  man,  at  the  club  in  Newport,  who  was 
very  proud  of  the  fact  that  his  wife  knew  the 
Duchesse  de  La  Rochefoucauld,  an  American  by 
birth,  although  he  had  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting 
the  duke  on  the  stairs  only  ;  they  dwelt  under  the 
same  roof,  don't  you  know  ;  he  always  referred  to 
him  obsequiously  as  "Monsieur  le  Due."  .  .  . 

It  was  Alfred  de  Musset  who  wrote  that  delight- 
ful piece,  "A  qnois pcnscnt  les jcnncs fillcs? " 

If  he  were  in  America,  the  answer  would  be 
very  easy  : 

"  To  become  a  countess,  a  marchioness,  a  duch- 
ess, and,  if  possible,  a  princess. 

But  the  worst  of  it  is  that,  generally,  they  do 
not  know  how  to  distinguish  a  scion  of  a  good, 
noble  race,  a  real  count,  a  real  marquis,  or  a  real 
duke ;  I  do  not  mean  real  so  far  as  the  title  is 
concerned,  for  there  are  many  with  real  titles  who 


MILLIONAIRES.  8/ 

have  no  nobility, —  nobility  of  manners,  of  senti- 
ments, of  feeling,  of  taste,  of  courtesy,  of  high 
aspiration  ;  who  are,  in  a  word,  utterly  without  that 
which  constitutes  the  treasury  of  the  traditions, 
the  culture  and  selection,  of  hundreds  of  years  ; 
they  may  have  the  title,  but  they  have  not  even 
the  external  marks  of  good  blood,  the  personal 
beauty,  or  even  homeliness,  as  illustrated  in  the 
great  race  of  the  Marquis  de  Mirabeau,  or  the 
Habsburg  family,  with  hanging  lower  lips. 

We  say  that  one  can  feel  a  nobleman,  but,  if  so, 
the  instinct  appears  to  be  lacking  in  the  case  of  the 
American  millionaires,  hence,  the  many  ludicrous 
adventures  of  Americans  in  search  of  titles. 

A  few  years  ago,  for  example,  there  came  to  the 
city  of  Boston  a  young  fellow,  short  and  slender, 
with  big  pointed  ears,  small  eyes,  hooked  nose, 
sharp  chin,  thin  lips,  bony  cheeks,  stooping 
shoulders,  and  of  generally  sickly  appearance ; 
in  a  word,  a  man  who,  to  a  European,  would  be 
taken  at  once  for  a  Jew.  He  introduced  himself  as 
a  count  ;  of  course,  all  the  Boston  millionaires  were 
in  the  seventh  heaven  of  Mahomet  ;  dinners,  teas, 
and  invitations  were  endless  ;  they  even  went  so 
far,  those  people  who  call  themselves  ladies,  as  to 
call  upon  him,  although  he  was  a  bachelor  ;  finally 
it  was  discovered  by  some  newspaper  that  he  not 


88  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

only  was  no  count,  but  even  was  no  nobleman, 
to  be  which  is,  in  my  opinion,  more  than  to  be  a 
count. 

When  Napoleon  made  all  his  brave  comrades 
dukes  and  princes,  he  said  to  Lord  Ebrington  : 

"  I  give  them  great  riches,  I  make  them  dukes 
and  princes,  but  I  cannot  make  them  noblemen." 

Nobility  is  not  a  question  of  parchment,  but, 
rather,  it  is  simply  a  kind  of  noble  tradition,  pass- 
ing from  generation  to  generation,  and  kept  and 
cultivated  for  centuries. 

The  Comte  de  Mirabeau,  a  descendant  of  one  of 
the  greatest  races  of  Provence,  although  he  insisted 
in  the  Asscmblce  Nationale  on  the  suppression  of 
aristocratic  privileges,  still  wished  to  keep  his  title, 
his  carriages  with  his  coat  of  arms,  his  lackeys  in 
livery,  and  spoke  in  these  words  : 

"  I  think  the  same  as  you  about  our  privileges 
of  nobility;  but  it  is  impossible  to  take  from  the 
heart  of  the  nobleman  the  memory  of  a  noble  past ; 
real  nobility  is,  in  this  regard,  a  holy  property,  and 
cannot  be  annihilated.  The  forms  will  be  changed, 
but  the  worship  will  remain  the  same." 

Then,  is  not  the  American  millionaire  absurdly 
vain  ? 

He  is,  indeed,  ridiculously  vain.  Ask  an  Ameri- 
can millionaire  which  he  prefers,  London  or  Paris  ; 


MILLIONAIRES.  89 

without  hesitation  he  will  answer  that  he  prefers 
the  great  "Fog  centre;"  push  him  a  little  further 
and  he  will  tell  you  that  in  London  there  is  a 
court,  an  hereditary  prince, — the  levee  of  the 
Queen.  Bah !  the  cat  is  out  of  the  bag ;  the  great 
ambition  of  a  Yankee  millionaire  is  to  be  present 
at  the  levee  of  the  Queen  in  London,  and  to  come 
back  early  enough  to  be  present  at  the  leve'e  of  the 
Jwrizontale  in  Paris. 

As  soon  as  the  American  millionaire  has  re- 
ceived at  his  house  some  man  with  a  title,  he 
ceases  to  be  a  common  millionaire.  He  will  be  a 
millionaire  who  once  spoke  to  a  real  English  lord ; 
this  heiress  once  flirted  with  an  Italian  count ; 
this  lady  gave  a  dinner  in  honour  of  Due  de 
X . 

The  American  millionaires  have  their  rich,  if 
not  tasteful,  houses ;  their  set  of  "  four  hundred  ;  " 
they  have  everything  which  great  wealth  can 
give ;  but  they  do  not  have  la  grande  dame,  le 
grand  seigneur,  nor  the  salon. 

To  be  a  grande  dame  means,  in  our  society,  to  be 
more  refined,  more  eminent  by  education,  culture, 
and  kindness,  and  by  heart  and  mind,  more  affa- 
ble, more  attractive  —  and  then — to  have  exquis- 
ite manners. 

The  idea  of  grand  seigneur  also  implies  many 


90  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

conditions.  A  millionaire  is  not  an  ipso  facto 
grand  seigneur. 

He  must  possess,  equally  with  exterior  condi- 
tions, interior  qualities. 

A  grand  seigneur  is  he  who  entertains  great 
and  noble  ideas  concerning  his  country ;  who 
brings  to  society  those  higher  principles  of  civili- 
zation which  cannot  be  obtained  with  money  only. 

In  fact,  it  is  not  by  vanity  that  people  are 
drawn  to  the  superior  minds,  to  a  certain  fire- 
place, to  certain  leading  houses,  but  because  they 
find  there  that  which  they  do  not  find  elsewhere. 
Vain  are  the  display  and  the  glitter  of  opulence, 
luxury,  livery,  carriages,  horses,  houses,  and  dress. 
Ostentatious  display  is  the  sure  mark  of  the  par- 
venu, not  of  the  grand  seigneur.  But  there,  where 
the  pictures  of  the  great  masters  hang,  where  the 
archives,  libraries,  and  old  souvenirs  are,  where  the 
elevation  of  mind  is  high  and  taste  is  refined, 
there  old  and  young  will  come  to  see  the  light. 

I  am  afraid  that  life  in  America,  in  the  so-called 
society,  especially  in  New  York,  is  more  the  busi- 
ness of  entertaining,  as  one  American  writer  calls 
it,  and  nothing  more,  and  it  is  done  more  for 
show  than  for  the  pleasure  of  social  life. 

"There  are  many  places  where  it  is  more  agree- 
able to  be  '  entertained  ; '  many  where  it  is  done 


MILLIONAIRES.  9 1 

on  a  larger  scale,  for  there  is  nothing  in  America 
so  imposing  as  the  receptions  at  embassies  and 
other  great  houses  in  England  and  abroad.  To 
bring  the  matter  into  business  form,  since  it  is  a 
matter  of  business,  let  us  say  that  nowhere  do 
guests  cost  so  much  by  the  cubic  foot  as  in  New 
York.  Abroad,  owing  to  the  peculiar  condition 
of  court  life,  many  people  are  obliged  to  open 
their  houses  at  stated  intervals." 

In  America  no  one  is  under  this  necessity.  If 
people  begin  to  "entertain"  they  do  it  because 
they  have  money,  or  because  they  have  something 
to  gain  by  it,  and  they  do  it  with  an  absolute 
regardlessness  of  cost,  which  is  enough  to  startle 
the  sober  foreigner. 

It  is  in  bad  taste,  this  exhibition  of  power ;  this 
enormous  expenditure  is  imposing ;  though  the 
imposing  element,  being  strictly  confined  to  the 
display  of  wealth,  can  never  produce  the  impres- 
sion of  durability  and  grandeur,  especially  with 
a  regiment  of  detectives  watching  the  guests. 
What  a  barocco  idea! — to  have  detectives  at  the 
balls  and  at  the  weddings  ! 

By  the  salon  we  understand  a  gathering  of  peo- 
ple having  influence,  light,  culture,  and  refinement. 
The  salon  is  not  composed  exclusively  of  nobility ; 
it  is  a  social  institution,  bringing  together  all  that 


92  A  PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

is  preeminent  by  talent,  by  wit,  and  by  birth,  sel- 
dom by  wealth. 

Princess  Mathilde  and  Madame  Adam,  in  Paris; 
Princess  Metternich,  in  Vienna ;  Princess  Czar- 
toryska,  in  Crakow,  and  Princess  Repnin,  in  Kieff, 
have  such  salons. 

The  United  States  has  astonished  the  world  by 
the  incredibly  rapid  increase  of  its  population ; 
more  rapid  still  is  the  concentration  of  enormous 
riches  in  a  few  hands.  The  millions  make  mil- 
lions ;  and,  in  a  country  in  which  the  barriers  of 
legality  are  very  frail,  and  where  it  is  customary 
to  use  the  elbow,  and  to  push  each  other  brutally, 
the  millionaires  have  easily  and  without  any  scru- 
ples multiplied  their  millions  to  infinity,  to  become 
almighty.  The  Senate  of  the  Union,  which  was  a 
congress  of  diplomats,  became  not  more  than  a 
few  years  ago  a  congress  of  millionaires  ;  to-day, 
it  is  a  gathering  of  thrifty  business  promoters. 
The  millionaires,  rare  in  former  times  in  America, 
have  become  legion ;  their  sons,  having  ceased 
working  and  producing,  are  now  speculating. 
From  the  passion  of  gambling  is  born  the  frenzy 
of  luxury ;  the  rich  have  shown  the  glory  of  par- 
venues.  It  is  with  those  millionaires  a  fight  of 
vanity,  and  the  rich,  who  formerly  lived  as  their 


MILLIOATAIRES.  93 

less  fortunate  fellow  citizens,  act  and  live  now 
to  show  themselves  ;  the  inequality  of  conditions, 
then,  is  brought  out  strongly. 

There  were  but  few  millionaires  in  1860,  there 
are  now  more  than  thirty -six  thousand.  There 
were  no  tramps  then,  to-day  there  are  two  mil- 
lions. All  comment  is  unnecessary. 

This  arrogant  display  of  riches  has  corrupted 
everything. 

Those  silver  kings,  railroad  kings,  iron  kings, 
steel  kings,  petroleum  kings,  have  acquired  the 
superficial  polish  given  to  them  by  the  shine  of 
gold ;  but  they  do  not  know  the  A,  B,  C  of  polite- 
ness, the  elementary  principles  of  true  civilization. 

Look  closely  on  their  stony  faces  and  their 
hard  visages  ;  think  a  little  over  it,  and  you  will 
agree  with  me  that  the  possessors  of  such  hard 
features  can  be  anything  but  kind  ;  can  have 
anything  but  high  qualities  of  soul  ;  consequently, 
their  moral  influence  upon  the  country  can  be 
anything  but  good. 

t  I  am  glad  that  my  opinion  about  the  "would-be 
aristocracy"  of  this  country  is  supported  by  that 
of  Marion  Crawford,  who,  besides  his  great  talent, 
has  had  the  advantage  of  seeing  the  whole  world, 
of  being  in  the  best  society  of  every  country,  and 


94  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

who,  consequently,  is  capable  of  giving  good  judg- 
ment upon  certain  things. 

"In  America,"  said  he,  in  his  well-known  novel, 
"Dr.  Claudius,"  "the  class  who  would  like  to  be 
designated  as  the  '  aristocracy '  of  the  country  is 
remarkable  for  nothing  so  much  as  for  the  very 
unaristocratic  faculty  of  getting  money,  rarely 
mingling  in  public  questions,  still  more  rarely  pro- 
ducing anything  of  merit,  literary  or  artistic. 
Therefore,  being  so  constituted  that  the  almighty 
dollar  crowns  the  edifice  of  their  ambitions,  as 
with  a  coronet  of  milled  silver,  they  are  singularly 
inapt  to  suffer  from  such  ills  as  prick  the  soul, 
which  taketh  no  thought  of  the  morrow,  what  it 
shall  eat  or  what  it  shall  drink. 

"  The  faculties  are  all  awake,  acute,  and  ready 
for  use  ;  but  there  is  an  absolute  lack  of  depth, 
which  will  rouse  the  perpetual  wonder  of  future 
generations." 

And  then,  in  another  place,  he  says  : 
"  Disreputable-looking  millionaires." 
Some    of    them   are   even   so   mean,   that   they 
erect  high  fences  around  their  palaces,   in  order 
not  to  give  any  one  a  chance  to  see  the  house, 
and,  by  looking,  to  develop  his  good  taste.      If,  by 
chance,    the    gate    were    open    and    anybody    ap- 
proaches it  to  look  at  the  house,  the  porter,  rough 


MILLIONAIRES.  95 

as  his  master,  will  drive  away  the  indiscreet  trans- 
gressor ;  and  so,  the  man  who  has  no  mind  of  his 
own,  seeing  the  roughness  of  a  millionaire,  will,  in 
his  turn,  think  that  it  is  the  proper  thing  to  be 
rough. 

Good  and  bad  examples  are  contagious.  Here 
is  an  illustration  : 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  IV.,  there  was  in 
France  a  nobleman  by  the  name  of  Comte  de 
Bassompierre,  who  was  famous  for  his  exquisite 
refinement  and  politeness.  One  day,  while  Comte 
de  Bassompierre  was  in  Louvre,  his  lackey,  who 
was  in  waiting,  perceived  in  the  court  a  lady  who 
was  entangled  in  the  long  train  of  her  dress. 
The  lackey  stepped  forward  and  helped  the  lady, 
saying  : 

"  It  shall  not  be  said  that  the  lackey  of  Comte 
de  Bassompierre  was  so  impolite  as  not  to  assist  a 
lady." 

And  he  carried  the  train  of  the  lady  to  the 
grand  stairs  of  Louvre.  The  lady  in  question  was 
Madame  de  La  Suze.  She  told  the  story  to  Comte 
de  Bassompierre,  who  immediately  gave  to  the 
lackey  one  hundred  pistoles,  and  made  him  a 
footman. 

Now,  go  to  Newport  and  try  to  see  the  mansion 
of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt,  which  is  in  process  of 


96  A    PARISIAN-  IN  AMERICA. 

construction ;  immediately,  a  rough  watchman 
will  jump,  and,  with  imperious  gesture,  will  shout 
to  you  : 

"  Get  out  from  here  ;  it  is  private  !  " 
Go  to  any  country  in  Europe,  and  try  to  see 
the   palace  of    any  ruler   you   please,  and  never, 
positively  never,  will  you  meet  with  such  rough- 
ness as  you  find  at  every  step  in  Newport. 

As  a  conclusion  to  this  chapter,  I  shall  add  a 
few  reflections. 

When  we  look  on  the  beginning  of  the  social 
organization  in  Europe  in  the  tenth  century,  we 
see,  on  one  side,  the  boldness  of  a  few ;  on  the 
other  side,  the  slavery  of  the  masses.  He  who 
was  strong  enough,  wore  the  armour,  and  rode  the 
horse,  was  the  lord ;  the  cowardly  and  weak 
remained  his  slaves. 

While  reading  the  chronicles  and  looking  at  the 
pictures  of  these  times,  one  can  see  the  difference 
between  the  knight  and  the  slave.  There  is  a 
great  difference  in  physiognomy,  as  those  knights 
were  noble-looking  men,  with  fine  features,  intelli- 
gent foreheads,  brilliant  eyes ;  while  the  slaves 
were  small,  homely,  and  awkward,  with  small, 
round,  idiotic  eyes. 

In  the  epoch  of  blood  and  war,  there  are  only 


MILLIONAIRES.  97 

the  chiefs  and  their  slaves.  In  the  tenth  century, 
every  one  wears  armour,  or  is  a  slave.  It  does  not 
mean  that  one  could  never  become  a  free  man,  as 
from  the  ranks  of  those  slaves  came  forth  men  of 
energy  and  courage, —  the  Sires,  as  they  were 
called  in  the  East,  Ritters,  as  they  were  called  in 
Germany,  Vladiks,  as  they  were  called  in  West- 
ern Europe  ;  such  was  the  beginning  of  nobility. 

Here  is  a  Comte  Raynauld  or  Raynard  ;  what 
was  his  origin  ?  Was  he  a  scion  of  a  noble  house, 
or  did  he  come  from  the  people  ?  We  do  not 
know.  Raynard  had  the  city  of  Senes,  called 
himself  Comte,  and  robbed  the  merchants  and 
pilgrims. 

The  families  of  Reynault,  Rutland,  Lupus,  De 
Gascogne,  Sanche,  De  Navarre,  whence  did  they 
come  ?  What  was  their  origin  ? 

Do  you  think  that  such  celebrated  robbers  as 
Buchardus,  Montinorency,  were  very  soft-hearted 
men,  and  had  ancestors  in  direct  line  from  Carlo- 
vingians  ?  Not  at  all !  Their  ancestors  were  almost 
always  slaves  ;  they  felt  the  blood  boiling  in  their 
veins,  and  they  got  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  men 
on  the  battle-field;  by  energy  in  the  fight,  they 
became  powerful  lords.  To-day  the  family  of 
Montinorency  is  one  of  the  first  families  in 
France. 


98  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Such  is  the  best  explanation  of  the  origin  of 
nobility  in  every  country. 

Why  and  whence  does  the  use  of  blazons  come  ? 
The  answer  is  not  so  easy  as  one  would  at  first 
think,  unless  you  wish  to  give  the  common  answer 
that  they  came  from  other  countries.  The  re- 
spected voice  of  Guizot  explains  the  origin  of 
blazon  by  the  necessity  of  the  Crusades,  when 
every  commander  was  obliged  to  have  a  sign, 
under  which  his  soldiers  could  gather.  Such  is 
the  logical  explanation  of  coat  of  arms,  after- 
wards adorned  according  to  fancy,  and  varied  by 
marriages. 

In  the  course  of  time,  the  use  of  the  shield, 
bearing  a  coat  of  arms,  passed  into  a  custom 
which  was  imitated  in  all  countries  by  those  fami- 
lies who  by  their  courage  had  acquired  riches  and 
power, —  had  become  the  leaders.  For  many  of 
those  families  it  was  not  enough  to  have  a  blazon, 
— they  added  titles  to  their  names,  which  take  their 
origin  from  Roman  forms.  The  first  magistrate  in 
the  city,  who  dispensed  justice,  and  in  case  of 
necessity  took  up  even  arms  in  the  fight,  had  the 
title,  Comes  ;  French,  Comte  ;  English,  Count.  The 
others,  ruling  the  country  on  the  frontiers,  under 
the  name  of  commandants,  had  military  position, 
and  called  themselves,  gouvcrncurs  dc  marches,  a 


MILLIONAIRES.  99 

title  which  was  changed  to  the  French,  Marquis ; 
English,  Marquis.  Similar,  but  more  extensive, 
power  made  duces,  from  which  comes  the  title  of 
Duke.  The  most  powerful  took  the  title  of  king ; 
and  you  must  not  think  that  the  word  "  king " 
had  so  wide  and  exact  signification  as  to-day ;  in 
those  times  it  expressed  only  the  idea  of  command- 
ing. They  had  respect  for  Ccesars ;  but  a  king 
was  merely  a  commander  of  troops.  The  Nor- 
mans have  had  their  Sea-kings  (inaris  reges),  the 
common  commander  of  a  boat.  Kingdoms,  duke- 
doms, marchisdoms,  and  earldoms  were  mixed  to- 
gether, and  they  did  not  have  hierarchic  order  of 
our  days.  Whoever  wanted  to,  took  them  without 
any  one's  permission. 

"  The  same  one  who  has  made  thee  king,  has 
made  me  a  count>"  was  the  answer  of  a  Comte  de 
Perigord,  to  Hugues  Capet,  when  the  latter  dared 
to  ask  him  who  made  him  a  count. 

In  the  eleventh  century  one  of  my  ancestors 
expelled  from  his  kingdom  his  own  brother,  and 
robbed  him  of  his  treasure. 

Only  in  the  fifteenth  century  is  this  order  of 
things  changed  ;  the  king's  power  increases,  and 
at  this  time  the  origin  of  many  titles  is  the  king's 
will ;  then  not  everything  was  the  result  of  the 
cut  of  the  sword  and  the  thrust  of  the  lance ;  the 


IOO  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

ruler  made  the  nobility  for  his  own  purpose,  and 
with  its  help  he  tried  to  bend  and  humiliate  the 
old  and  proud  feudals. 

American  millionaires  are  like  those  first  feudal 
lords  of  past  times, — bold,  heartless,  shrewd.  They 
robbed  the  merchants  and  the  pilgrims  by  force  of 
arms  ;  the  American  millionaires  rob  their  share- 
holders while  sitting  in  their  luxurious  offices. 
The  difference  is  only  in  the  weapons,  and  in  the 
greater  risk  of  the  former,  who  gave  his  adversary 
at  least  a  chance  to  render  blow  for  blow,  to  kill 
his  foe,  and  regain  his  wealth,  while  the  American 
millionaire  is  perfectly  safe,  with  the  legions  of 
his  private  detectives,  and  the  law  protecting  his 
property  and  his  life. 

The  descendants  of  the  feudal  barons  are  re- 
garded to-day  as  the  best  class  of  people,  and,  in 
fact,  they  are  when  they  have  not  degenerated  ; 
the  same  will  be  true  four  or  five  hundred  years 
hence  with  the  descendants  of  the  American 
millionaires  ;  the  dirty  origin  of  their  fortunes  will 
be  forgotten,  their  manners  will  become  refined, 
their  tastes  will  be  polished,  and  they  will  be  the 
nobility  of  the  future  empire  built  in  America  on 
the  ruin  of  the  United  States. 

They  have  already  made  a  step  toward  this 
brilliant  future  ;  they  have  accumulated  the  riches, 


MILLIONA  IRES.  I O I 

and  many  of  them  have  taken  the  coat  of  arms  ; 
by  marriages  they  have  mingled  snobbery  and 
philistinism  of  the  almighty  dollar  with  the  an- 
cienne  noblesse. 

The  only  trouble  with  modern  nobility  is,  that 
one  can  very  easily  trace  the  low  origin  of  their 
fortunes,  while  the  veil  of  very  remote  times  and 
lack  of  publicity  covers  the  obscure  origins  of  the 
old  European  houses. 


CHAPTER    V. 

AMERICAN    NEWSPAPERS. 

WHEN  a  correspondent  of  the  Figaro  came 
last  year  to  America  he  paid  a  visit  to 
President  Cleveland.    He  found  in  the  Washington 
papers  the  same  evening  whole  columns  about  his 
visit,  with  the  following  head-lines  : 

"  Strange    Opinion   of   a    French   Journalist 

about  Washington." 

"  Mr.  Cleveland  and  a  Distinguished  French- 
man in  the  White  House." 
"  What  a  Parisian  Thinks  of  America." 

"I  was  astonished,"  said  he,  "to  find  that  I 
had  said  so  much  ;  that  I  had  delivered  so  many 
weighty  decisions  and  discussed  so  many  ques- 
tions of  international  importance." 

But  he  concluded  : 

"  In  point  of  humbug,  to  tell  the  truth,  all 
newspaper  men  are  equal,  Europeans  as  well  as 
Americans.  Newspaper  men  can  be  compared  to 
the  chimney-sweep;  for  with  both,  after  all,  the 
main  question  is  the  draft  —  it  is  the  drawing 
power  that  makes  success." 

1 02 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  103 

I  think  that  this  French  journalist  was  more 
nearly  right  with  respect  to  his  American  col- 
leagues than  the  Englishman  who  said  to  me  : 

"  You  are  going  to  America  ;  well,  to  avoid  the 
nuisance  of  reporters,  have  some  cards  printed 
like  the  following  : 

"  My  name  is  Cleobule  Risenbois ;  I  am  thirty- 
two  years  of  age,  and  I  have  the  same  number  of 
teeth  ;  I  am  deaf  and  dumb  and  afflicted  with  a 
nervous  disease,  which  impels  me  to  give  a  kick 
to  every  ass  which  approaches  me !  " 

There  is  a  big  difference  between  the  first 
newspaper  printed  in  1457,  in  Nuremberg,  and  a 
modern  newspaper  of  any  country ;  but  there  is 
also  a  big  difference  between  the  first  American 
paper,  Public  Occurrence,  printed  by  Harris  in 
September,  1690,  and  living  only  one  day,  and 
the  New  York  Herald,  for  instance,  of  to-day.  In 
April,  1704,  John  Campbell  started  the  Boston 
News  Letter,  the  first  regular  paper  established 
in  this  country.  The  first  number  was  carried  to 
the  President  of  Harvard  as  a  great  curiosity. 

When  the  fight  with  England  commenced,  the 
number  of  readers  of  papers  published  in  Boston, 
New  York,  Annapolis,  and  Charleston  increased 
rapidly. 


104  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Samuel  Adams  first  applied  to  England  the 
words  which  afterwards  were  attributed  to  Na- 
poleon I.,  —  "Nation  of  Shopkeepers." 

Besides,  we  find  in  early  newspaper  history 
Hugh  Gaine,  John  Adams,  Samuel  Cooper,  Philip 
Freneau,  the  poet  of  the  Revolution,  and  James 
Otis,  who  said  these  revolutionary  words : 

"Taxation  without  representation  is  tyranny." 

Joseph  Warren  and  Benjamin  Austin,  too, 
fought  the  pretensions  of  England,  and  preached 
resistance  to  oppression  ;  Benjamin  Franklin  re- 
sponded boldly  to  the  threats  of  authority  : 

"  The  man  who  can  live  as  I  do,  on  bread  and 
water,  has  no  need  for  any  one  and  is  not  afraid 
of  any  one." 

The  same  Franklin  said  : 

"  The  sun  of  Liberty  is  set ;  it  remains  for 
Americans  to  light  the  lamps  of  industry  and 
thrift." 

"  Rest  assured,"  Colonel  Thompson  answered 
him  in  his  paper,  "  that  we  will  light  the  torches 
and  not  the  lamps." 

It  was  the  newspaper  man,  Benjamin  Franklin, 
who  united  all  wills,  energies,  and  passions,  by  this 
mot  d'ordre:  "Join  or  die."  The  final  result  was 
the  withdrawal  of  the  English  troops  in  1783. 

Lord  North,  upon  receiving  news  of  the  surren- 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  1 05 

der  of  the  army  of  Cornwallis  to  Washington  and 
Rochambeau,  exclaimed  : 

"  I  feel  that  I  have  received  a  bullet  in  my 
breast.  Great  God  !  Everything  is  lost." 

He  spoke  the  truth. 

Already  in  these  days  the  American  press  had 
a  very  bright  style  which  has  since  been  further 
developed.  Franklin's  paper  of  September  5, 
1765,  published  the  following  paragraph: 

"Able  jockies  give  it  as  their  opinion  that  the 
American  horse  is  of  too  mettlesome  a  breed  to 
stand  still  under  the  operation  of  branding,  and 
that  whoever  should  attempt  to  apply  the  letter 
S  would  be  in  no  small  danger  from  his  heels. 
For,  saith  one  wittily,  '  sure,  none  but  asses  will 
stand  still  to  be  branded.'  However,  the  said 
jockies  will  not  aver  that  the  few  asses  here  will 
give  much  trouble  to  the  branding  company.  We 
hear  that  a  certain  Jared  Ingersol,  a  stamp  man, 
was  hanged  at  Norwich  last  Tuesday  in  an  effigy. 
His  dying  speech  has  not  yet  come  to  hand." 

What  was  the  extent  of  the  circulation  of 
American  newspapers  in  those  days  ? 

In  1704  only  one  paper  was  published  ;  it  was 
a  weekly,  and  was  enough  for  the  city  populations 
of  ei<rht  thousand. 


106  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

In  1724  there  were  four  papers,  with  a  yearly 
circulation  of  170,000  copies.  The  population 
was  one  million. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  War  for  Inde- 
pendence in  1775,  the  press  was  represented  by 
thirty -seven  papers.  The  total  circulation  was 
1,200,000  copies  per  year.  The  population  had 
more  than  doubled  and  was  2,800,000. 

In  1800  we  find  three  hundred  and  fifty-nine 
papers  publishing  each  year  22,321,700  copies,  for 
a  population  of  7,239,812.  The  number  of  papers 
was  decupled,  while  the  population  was  trebled. 

We  are  far  from  the  times  of  Campbell,  who 
could  hardly  print  three  hundred  copies  every 
week. 

The  period  between  1810  and  1820  is  marked, 
in  the  United  States,  by  a  constant  development 
of  the  press,  retarded,  but  not  stopped,  by  the  war 
with  the  Indians,  the  breaking  with  England,  the 
Battle  of  New  Orleans,  the  interior  dissensions 
ended  by  the  Missouri  compromise,  the  money 
crisis,  and  the  war  with  the  banks. 

Peace  with  England  was  hardly  concluded,  when 
the  republican  press,  represented  by  The  Enquirer, 
Globe,  and  Albany  Argus,  organized  in  all  the  States 
a  powerful  coalition  against  Martin  Van  Buren, 
William  Marcy,  and  John  A.  Dix. 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  IO/ 

In  no  epoch  has  the  intervention  of  the  press 
in  personal  and  political  questions  been  so  dictato- 
rial. It  was  the  press  that  raised  the  question  of 
the  acquisition  of  Florida  and  influenced  Congress 
to  vote  five  millions  of  dollars  for  this  purpose. 
"America  for  Americans,"  became  the  national 
mot  d'ordre,  exemplified  by  the  conquest  of  Cali- 
fornia and  Texas,  the  annexation  of  Oregon,  and 
the  purchase  of  Alaska  from  Russia. 

So  the  American  press  responded  to  the  national 
needs  ;  by  the  press  and  with  the  press,  the  colo- 
nist shook  off  the  foreign  yoke ;  by  the  press  and 
with  the  press,  independence  was  proclaimed,  a 
republic  was  founded,  the  constitution  was  built 
up,  and  the  rights  of  the  State  and  of  the  indi- 
vidual were  fairly  adjusted. 

Let  us  examine  now  what  service  was  rendered 
by  the  press  to  other  necessities  of  the  country. 

Besides  the  political  press  there  is  the  religious 
press. 

The  first  paper  exclusively  devoted  to  religious 
questions  appeared  in  Boston,  January  3,  1816. 
The  editor  was  Nathaniel  Willis  ;  the  name  of  the 
paper,  which  is  still  in  existence,  was  the  Re- 
corder. 

Almost     simultaneous1  y    the    Congregationalist 


IO8  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

appeared;  then  the  Watchman,  the  organ  of  the 
Baptists,  which  has,  at  present,  25,000  subscribers ; 
the  New  York  Obsen>er  prints  64,000  copies  ;  the 
Ziori s  Herald,  the  paper  of  the  Methodists ;  the 
Christian  Register,  of  the  Unitarians.  The  Pres- 
byterian Church  is  represented  by  the  Evangelist. 
The  Boston  Pilot  has  been  for  years  the  organ  of 
the  Catholics.  Even  the  Spiritualists,  who  num- 
ber 1,500,000,  have  many  papers,  the  most  impor- 
tant of  which  is  the  Spiritualist. 

The  religious  press,  as  the  passionate  adversary 
of  slavery,  urged  the  country  to  the  Civil  War  as 
much  as,  if  not  more  than,  the  political  press.  The 
attacks  directed  against  slavery  came  from  her; 
and  her  most  eminent  contributors,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher,  Wendell  Phillips,  and  Whittier,  exercised 
over  public  opinion  a  true  dictatorship. 

A  few  figures  will  give  an  idea  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  religious  press.  It  comprises  in  the 
United  States  420  papers,  with  a  total  yearly  cir- 
culation of  one  billion  and  a  half  copies;  the 
number  of  subscribers  is  more  than  9,000,000. 

The  total  number  of  papers  published  in  this 
country  is  17,960;  this  includes  Canada;  but  her 
share  is  only  820. 

One  will  ask,  how  can  so  many  papers  exist  ? 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  1 09 

I  shall  not  try  to  explain  it,  as  I  do  not  understand 
it  myself ;  I  will  only  give  you  similar  figures  for 
the  principal  European  countries : 

United  States  and  Canada          .         .  17,960 

England     ......  6,200 

Germany    ......  5,700 

France       ......  4,300 

Austria-Hungary         ....  1,400 

Italy           ......  1,300 

Thus  America  alone  has  almost  as  many  papers 
as  all  the  other  above  -  mentioned  States,  and  this 
number  will  be  larger  soon,  as  certain  States  are  at 
present  very  little  inhabited  ;  in  Montana,  there  are 
only  fifty-eight,  and  in  Nevada,  twenty-four ;  but 
some  of  the  States  have  an  almost  incredible 
number,  for  instance  : 

New  York 1,778 

Illinois 1,409 

Pennsylvania       .....  1,281 

Ohio  ......  1,041 

When  one  considers  the  circulation,  and  the 
number  of  pages  of  these  papers,  he  is  amazed. 

The  most  important,  in  New  York,  are  the 
World,  with  a  daily  circulation  of  about  600,000  ; 
its  rival,  the  New  York  Herald,  follows  very 
closely,  and  so  do  the  Snn  and  the  Tribune.  We 


IIO  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

must  not  forget  the  Evening  Post,  a  literary  paper 
far  excellence.     Not  one  of  them  has  yet  reached 
the    circulation    of    the   Petit  Journal,    of    Paris, 
1,500,000    copies. 

Would  you  have  some  idea  of  the  space  which 
advertisement  takes  ?  The  World  alone  publishes 
in  the  column,  "Help  wanted,"  41,000  advertise- 
ments, which  represent  2,040  columns.  While, 
at  the  same  time,  in  France,  the  Figaro  could 
give  only  216  columns  of  advertisements,  and  the 
Times,  in  England,  only  938  columns. 

A  man  whose  name  is  well  known  in  Europe 
as  the  proprietor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  James 
Gordon  Bennett,  is  the  personification  of  Ameri- 
can journalism.  The  immense  fortune  which  he 
realized,  the  splendid  success  of  his  bold  ventures, 
proved  the  strength  of  a  good  idea,  taken  in  time, 
and  followed  with  perseverance. 

The  history  of  Gordon  Bennett's  father  and  the 
New  York  Herald  can  be  considered  as  the  his- 
tory of  journalism  in  America.  By  the  study  of 
the  career  of  this  remarkable  man,  who  refused 
the  position  of  ambassador  to  remain  a  newspaper 
man,  we  can  see  the  birth,  the  progress,  and 
transformations  of  the  modern  press  in  the 
United  States,  and  we  can  see  how  the  press,  by 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  Ill 

giving  satisfaction  to  all  interests  and  to  all  needs, 
became  what  it  is  to-day. 

James  Gordon  Bennett,  the  elder,  began  jour- 
nalism as  the  determined  partisan  of  Jackson  and 
Martin  Van  Buren,  and  made  his  first  attempt  in 
the  Courier,  the  organ  of  the  party. 

Young,  active,  and  energetic,  he  was  not  long 
dependent,  and,  in  1832,  established  the  New 
York  Globe.  This  first  attempt  failed,  as  he  hesi- 
tated in  his  independence.  His  paper,  as  the 
organ  of  a  party,  was  gloomy  compared  with  its 
rivals  ;  without  satisfying  anybody,  it  caused  dis- 
satisfaction to  everybody.  Bennett  understood  his 
mistake,  stopped  the  publication,  and  broke  with 
his  party. 

Set  free,  and  counting  only  on  himself,  Bennett 
went  to  New  York,  poor  in  money,  but  rich  in 
hope.  He  wanted  to  realize  his  dream,  to  publish 
a  paper  altogether  independent  outside  and  above 
all  parties  ;  a  paper,  neither  Federalist,  nor  Re- 
publican, nor  Democratic,  but  purely  American, 
devoted  to  national  interests.  He  wished  to  leave 
the  field  of  polemics  for  the  field  of  facts,  giving 
to  his  subscribers  information,  but  leaving  them 
liberty  to  form  their  own  opinions  ;  to  make  his 
paper  accessible  to  everybody  by  its  moderate 


112  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

price,  to  develop  advertising ;  such  was  the  plan 
of  the  future  editor  of  the  New  York  Herald,  and 
it  was  with  a  capital  of  five  hundred  dollars  that 
he  expected  to  realize  it. 

To  attempt  such  an  enterprise  to-day,  in  New 
York,  would  require  half  a  million  dollars. 

The  first  number  of  the  New  York  Herald 
appeared  May  5th,  1835.  The  price  of  subscrip- 
tion was  three  dollars  per  year.  Adhering  to  his 
programme,  he  eliminated  political  articles,  and 
replaced  them  with  official  documents,  refraining 
from  comment. 

In  the  beginning,  everybody  laughed  at  him. 

Bennett  was  the  first  to  give  an  account  of  the 
transactions  of  the  stock  exchange.  The  innova- 
tion was  not  well  received  by  the  bankers.  The 
editor  was  insulted  and  persecuted,  but  the  dis- 
turbance was  profitable  to  him.  The  financial 
crisis,  in  1837,  confirmed  his  success,  as  it  had 
been  predicted  by  his  paper.  He  could  exist. 

He  enlarged  the  paper,  organized  a  force  of 
intelligent  correspondents,  not  only  in  America, 
but  all  over  Europe,  and,  in  giving  news  of  events, 
outstripped  all  his  competitors. 

Although  he  was  trained  in  the  school  of  polit- 
ical journalism,  he  repudiated  its  methods  and 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  113 

traditions,  and,  when  he  founded  the  Herald, 
adopted  what  he  called  the  "  French  style,"  a 
style  which  is  followed  now  by  American  journal- 
ists. Before  his  time,  they  copied  English  writers 
exactly.  The  editorial  was  heavy  and  gloomy, 
and  was  prolonged  from  number  to  number.  In- 
digestible erudition  was  the  foundation  of  it,  and 
a  pompous  and  solemn  style  characterized  it. 
These  long  and  painful  lucubrations  were  invari- 
ably signed,  " Publiu s,  Americns,  Honestus,  Scipio, 
Veritas" 

Bennett  first  abandoned  the  style  borrowed 
from  Addison,  Junius,  and  Swift,  and  introduced 
in  the  American  press  short,  nervous,  and  precise 
articles  instead. 

He  pronounced  upon  the  French  press  a  very 
plain  judgment  : 

"The  French  papers,"  said  he,  "are  behind  the 
times  with  respect  to  dimensions,  advertisement, 
and  foreign  news  ;  but  they  have  to  the  highest 
degree  the  art  of  form." 

It  is  certainly  true  that  the  American  press  is 
without  rival  in  the  department  of  advertising. 
This  kind  of  communication  between  the  con- 
sumer and  the  producer  plays,  in  the  United  States 
and  England,  a  part  of  which  we  on  the  old  conti- 


114  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

nent  have  no  idea.  Advertisement  is,  for  the 
Anglo-Saxon,  the  first  and  last  word,  the  soul  of 
commerce.  You  find  it  everywhere,  but  it  is 
especially  in  the  papers  that  it  is  represented,  as 
one  of  the  essential  springs  of  every-day  life. 

In  American  advertisements  you  find  dramas 
and  comedies,  love-lorn  complaints,  and  grotesque 
advice.  The  picture  is  complete. 

By  looking  over  these  densely  packed  columns 
one  can  obtain,  better  and  more  easily  than  by  any 
other  means,  an  idea  of  the  customs,  manners,  and 
civilization  of  these  new  people,  whom  some  con- 
sider as  the  most  perfect  type  of  modern  progress, 
and  others  as  most  corrupt  and  destined  to  ap- 
proaching ruin ;  whom  some  praise,  and  others 
blame,  equally  without  reason  and  without  under- 
standing. 

It  would  take  pages  to  mention  the  smart  enter- 
prises of  this  most  intelligent  journalist  in  the 
world  ;  his  son,  James  Gordon  Bennett,  continues 
in  the  steps  of  his  father,  and  keeps  the  Herald  in 
the  front  rank  of  the  American  press.  Equally 
active,  he  attracted  attention  to  himself  at  once  by 
certain  proceedings,  which  his  adversaries  called 
gigantic  advertisements.  I  will  recall  one  of 
them  : 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  I  I  5 

The  day  after  the  fight  of  Sadowa,  and  the  con- 
clusion of  peace  with  Austria,  the  King  of  Prussia 
delivered  an  important  speech  while  opening  the 
Reichstag.  The  correspondent  of  the  New  York 
Herald  came  to  the  telegraph  office  a  few  hours 
later  and  handed  to  the  astonished  employe  the 
speech  of  the  king,  asking  him  to  cable  it  to  New 
York. 

"  To  New  York !  But  I  must  have  time  to 
calculate  how  much  it  will  cost.  It  will  be  enor- 
mous !  " 

"  Wire  first,"  said  the  correspondent,  laying 
50,000  marks  on  the  desk.  "We  will  figure  the 
cost  afterwards." 

It  cost  35,000  marks,  but  the  Herald  published 
the  news  at  the  same  time  with  the  Berlin  papers. 

In  1868  he  sent  Stanley,  as  correspondent,  to 
follow  the  English  general,  Napier,  in  Abyssinia. 
The  Herald  had  the  news  of  success  first,  and 
wired  it  from  New  York  to  the  English  Govern- 
ment. 

Then  Stanley  went  to  Africa  and  found  Liv- 
ingstone. This  extraordinary  accomplishment  ap- 
peared at  first  improbable,  but  it  was  proved  to  be 
true. 

The  other  papers  are  copying  this  giant,  and  are 


I  1 6  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

contributing,  in  their  way,  to  make  the  press  in 
the  United  States  a  most  powerful  factor, —  an  in- 
stitution feared  even  by  those  who  are  afraid 
neither  of  God  nor  of  the  devil ! 

"See  it,"  said  Thackeray;  "it  never  rests.  Its 
ambassadors  run  all  over  the  world  ;  its  messengers 
fill  all  the  roads  ;  its  reporters  follow  the  army  ; 
its  couriers  are  waiting  in  the  antechambers  of 
the  minister ;  it  is  everywhere.  One  of  its  agents 
forges  a  scheme  in  Madrid ;  another  raises  the 
stock  quotation  in  London.  The  press  is  the 
queen  ;  the  guardian  of  the  public  liberty,  whose 
fortune  is  bound  to  it ;  they  will  live  or  die 
together." 

But  the  American  press  has  also  the  dark  side, 
an  unhealthy  influence ;  nothing  is  holy  in  its 
eyes  ;  it  respects  nothing.  The  fear  inspired  by 
the  American  reporter  is  such  that  people  are 
afraid  to  send  him  away,  and  several  times  they 
have  shown  me  such  a  type  of  a  man  at  recep- 
tions, which  they  visit  without  being  invited. 

A  great  marriage  in  high  life  is  a  very  good 

opportunity  for  them  ;  it  is  a  subject  for  several 

columns,  which  are  filled  with  little  indiscretions, 

—  exquisite,  no  doubt,  to  the  readers,  but  not  to 

the  ones  immediately  interested. 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  I  I/ 

Here  is  a  sample  of  it  : 

"Miss  —  — ,  accompanied  by  her  'intended,' 
went  about  in  the  store  of  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Co.; 
after  a  rapid  glance  about  the  store,  she  stopped 
at  the  shirt  department  and  picked  out  some 
for  her  future  husband.  The  shirts  are  of  very 
fine  linen,  embroidered  with  sweet  peas  and  an 
enormous  monogram.  The  wedding  shirt  is  par- 
ticularly pretty ;  it  is  pink,  with  a  little  Cupid 
embroidered  on  the  breast ;  it  cost  forty  dollars  ! 
The  drawers  have  blue  and  yellow  stripes,  which 
will  give  the  husband,  in  the  eyes  of  his  wife,  the 
air  of  a  zebra." 

Or,  you  will  have  such  a  description  as  follows  : 

"The  drawers  of  Miss  -  -  are  very  elegant ; 
a  wave  of  orange  ribbons  and  long  lace ;  the 
stockings  are  a  jour,  and  show  a  finely  formed  leg. 
The  garters  represent  an  asp  biting  an  orange- 
blossom." 

They  are  past  masters,  too,  in  sensational  head- 
lines ; — you  know  some  of  them. 

"  He  Has  Given  Her  the  First  Kiss!  " 
It  means  simply,  they  are  engaged. 
"  Old  Jack  Is  on  the  Point  of  Giving  Up  Whiskey." 
It  signifies  that  he  is  dying. 


I  1 8  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

At  the  time  of  the  incident  in  New  Orleans 
you  could  read  in  the  papers  : 

"  Irritated  Italy  Shows  Her  Teeth." 
"  Elaine,  the  Shrewd,  Laughs  in  His  Sleeve  !  " 

During  a  scandalous  trial,  in  which  two  men 
contended  for  one  woman,  the  boys  yelled  on  the 
streets : 

"She  Likes  Newell  Better;  He  Kisses  Better." 

But  the  best  head -line  I  know  of  was  written 
when  the  late  Congressman  Cox,  of  New  York, 
who  was  generally  known  by  the  sobriquet  of 
"Sunset,"  was  sent  as  minister  to  Turkey,— 

"  Sunset  in  the  Orient !  " 

They  are  unrivalled  in  the  ingenuity  which 
they  display  to  attract  your  attention  to  an  ad- 
vertisement. They  commence  with  some  very 
interesting  story,  and,  just  when  you  are  wonder- 
ing whether  the  dead  hero's  soul  is  in  Paradise  or 
elsewhere,  you  are  abruptly  and  painfully  informed 
that  the  undertaker  by  mistake  injected  some  of 
the  famous  Dogberry  Balsam  instead  of  the  regu- 
lar embalming  fluid,  and  the  dead  man  is  once 
more  in  his  regular  place  of  business. 

An  undertaker  advertises  as  follows  :  "  Under- 


AMERICAN  NE  WSPA  PERS.  1 1 9 

taking  done  in  good  style,  at  any  time.  Coffins 
of  all  sizes  kept  on  hand  at  lowest  prices.  Use  of 
hearse  free  with  each  coffin  sold  to  our  citizens. 
Mr.  John  Orr  will  furnish  a  pair  of  fine  gray 
horses." 

Don't  you  think  it  quite  an  inducement  ? 

A  big  dry -goods  merchant  advertised  in  the 
local  papers  that  on  the  Fourth  of  July  he  would 
give  to  every  child  who  came  to  his  store  an 
American  flag,  a  horn,  and  a  box  of  candy,  and 
would  pay  their  car  fare  to  and  from  the  next 
town. 

You   can   imagine  that   early    in    the    morning 

there  were  thousands   of  children   on   hand,  but 

hardly  one -third  received  the  promised  presents 

—  the  others  cried  with  disappointment  and  the 

street  was  full  of  them. 

The  next  day  the  following  appeared  in  the 
local  paper : 

"  Well,  did  n't  we  have  a  glorious  time  Tuesday  morn- 
ing? Those  thousands  of  smiling,  happy  young  faces 
more  than  repaid  us  for  our  efforts  to  give  the  children  a 
chance  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of  Liberty  without  cost, 
and  we  are  well  satisfied  that  the  little  ones  appreciate  our 
efforts  in  their  behalf.  We  are  proud  to  assert  that  no 
such  gathering  has  ever  been  seen  in  this  city  before,  and 
we  are  pleased  to  have  been  the  direct  cause  of  bringing 


I  2O  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

so  much  joy  and  pleasure  to  the  children  of  our  city.  We 
desire  to  express  our  gratitude  to  our  friends  who  assisted 
in  any  way,  direct  or  indirect,  to  make  the  occasion  such  a 
notable  and  successful  one,  and  also  to  the  children  for 
their  very  good  behatiour.  We  feel  assured  that  the  future 
welfare  of  our  city  is  very  safe  in  the  hands  of  the  crowds 
of  patriotic  young  citizens  who  helped  us  celebrate.  May 
their  future  celebrations  bring  as  much  happiness  to  them 
as  this  one  did  to  us,  is  the  wish  of 

"  Their  friends  and  yours, 

«A—  B—  &  Co." 

And  we  conclude,  how  eloquent  is  James  for 
his  dry-goods ! 

In  a  word,  there  is  such  animation,  such  activ- 
ity, such  fever,  such  push,  in  the  American  papers 
as  old  Europe  has  never  dreamed  of.  At  first 
glance  they  seem  something  barbarous  to  us  Euro- 
peans, but,  little  by  little,  one  becomes  used  to 
this  chaos  of  news  scattered  over  thirty  or  more 
pages ;  one  finds  useful,  agreeable,  and  funny 
things  there. 

The  American  newspapers  always  have  ample 
space  and  inclination  to  record  the  quarrels  of 
scullions,  and  the  vulgarities  of  prize-fighters.  It 
is  something  dreadful  to  see  in  every  paper, 
almost  every  day,  columns  consecrated  to  this 
beastly  sport  ;  but,  when  Walter  Pater,  one  of 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  121 

the  most  accomplished  English  scholars  and 
writers,  died,  they  had  hardly  room  to  mention 
his  death,  though  they  pretend  to  be  so  well 
informed  about  everything.  The  same  thing 
might  have  been  observed,  at  the  death  of  such  a 
poet  even  as  their  own,  James  Russell  Lowell. 
But,  when  there  is  a  fight  between  two  notorious 
loafers,  there  is  no  end  to  the  smallest  details ; 
the  hours  when  the  brutes  rise  and  retire,  and 
the  delicate  viands,  with  which  they  are  fed  by 
their  keepers,  are  spread  before  the  public  ad 
nauseam. 

The  aggressiveness  of  the  American  papers  is 
growing  every  day  ;  they  attack  everything  and 
everybody.  Of  course,  they  have  to  fill  the  large 
sheets,  which  they  offer  for  sale  every  day,  and 
they  are  obliged  to  manage  it  somehow.  Every 
opportunity  is  fruitful  to  them ;  they  attack 
monarchy,  kings,  and  nobility,  the  privileges  and 
customs  of  every  country,  and  of  every  nation, 
without  sense  or  reason. 

A  correspondent  writes  from  Saratoga  to  the 
Boston  Herald  a  description  of  the  gambling 
casino  at  this  fashionable  Jewish  place  : 

"As  the  casino  at  Monte  Carlo  is  the  home  of 
the  greatest  gambling  institution  in  the  world,  so 
the  Saratoga  Club  House  shelters,  agreeably,  the 


122  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

chiefest  and  most  fashionable  gambling  enterprise 
in  America.  Speaking  ethically  and  socially, 
Saratoga  is  the  more  legitimate,  because  it  is  not 
overrun  by  the  shoddy  gentility,  and  lopped -off 
nobility,  such  as  only  effete  monarchies  of  Europe 
can  produce,  and  because  women  do  not  gamble 
at  Saratoga,  as  they  do  at  Monte  Carlo.  Monte 
Carlo  is  pretentious,  or  assumes  to  be,  and  it  is 
old,  world -widely  advertised,  partially,  through  a 
subsidized  European  press." 

Just  think  of  it !  A  legitimate,  modest  gam- 
bling-place ! 

And  that  saving  clause  permits  this  pharisaical 
shrieker  to  boast  of  the  "moral"  supremacy  of 
this  American  Monte  Carlo. 

Some  other  paper,  because  of  the  presence  of  a 
few  noblemen  at  Narragansett  Pier,  jumped  upon 
nobility  in  general,  and  published  half  a  column  of 
vociferation  against  a  class  of  people  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  come  and  fight  for  the  liberty  of  this 
country.  Go  to  school,  boys,  before  you  write 
such  tirades  without  reason,  and  learn  the  names 
of  some  of  the  most  brilliant  officers  on  the  staff 
of  General  Washington.  Marquis  de  La  Fayette, 
Count  de  Rochambeau,  Prince  de  Broglie,  Vis- 
count de  Noailles,  Due  des  Deux-Ponts,  Admiral 
de  Ternay,  Due  de  Fersen,  D'Orvilliers,  D'Estaing, 


AMERICAN  NEWSPAPERS.  123 

La  Motte-Picquet,  Le  Comte  de  Grasse,  Le 
Comte  Pulawski,  Knight  Kosciuszko,  Baron  von 
Steuben,  were  all  of  the  nobility,  so  much  despised 
to-day,  by  the  American  journalists.  During  the 
War  of  Secession,  two  of  the  first  noblemen  of 
France,  the  late  Comte  de  Paris  and  Due  de 
Chartres,  fought  in  the  American  ranks. 

It  is  impossible  to  argue  every  point.  Instead 
of  that,  I  will  ask  the  American  newspaper  men 
why  they  forget  such  a  sound  maxim  as  they  have 
and  practise  in  this  country  : 

"  Mind  your  own  business." 

Look  at  the  European  papers — of  course  I  do 
not  include  the  English  —  and  see  how  little  they 
have  to  say  about  America,  or,  rather,  how  seldom 
they  attack  this  country  and  American  people 
without  good  reason.  Here  and  there  you  may 
find  some  fact,  some  joke,  but  you  do  not  find  any 
systematic  and  continuous  war,  in  which  cheap 
ridicule  and  cheeky  falsehood  are  the  principal 
weapons. 

Perhaps  somebody  would  remind  me  of  the 
incident,  of  the  storm  of  invectives  against  the 

American,  Mrs.  X ,  when  she  paid  Meissonier 

80,000  francs  for  her  portrait,  and,  dissatisfied 
with  his  work,  tore  it  into  pieces,  or,  when  she 
had  the  effrontery  to  express  her  savage  desire  to 


124  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

purchase  and  illuminate,  on  the  occasion  of  a  ball 
at  her  mansion,  the  "Arc  de  Triomphe." 

But,  permit  me  to  tell  you,  and  every  good 
American  will  agree,  that  a  masterpiece  by  such  a 
painter  as  Meissonier,  though  paid  for  with  the 
money  of  a  vulgar  millionairess,  is  her  property 
only  materially ;  morally,  it  belongs  to  all  human- 
ity, as  do  all  works  of  art,  art  being  international. 
Therefore,  in  destroying  it,  the  purchaser  acted 
like  those  barbarians  who  destroyed  marvels  of 
art  in  Rome.  By  her  proposition  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  "  Arc  de  Triomphe,"  she  insulted  a 
nation  in  its  dearest  sentiments  of  pride,  just  as 
Americans  would  be  insulted,  if  some  barbarian 
should  propose  to  buy  the  tomb  of  George  Wash- 
ington, or  Bunker  Hill  Monument.  And  then, 
those  attacks  were  directed  against  the  woman 
personally,  not  against  the  whole  American  na- 
tion. Consequently,  the  French  press  was  right 
in  coming  down  heavily  on  the  insolence  of  a  mil- 
lionaire parvenuc.  But  the  French  press  never 
attacks  the  whole  American  people  on  account  of 
Mr.  Bennett,  the  mail-coach,  or  his  hat,  or  his 
shoes,  as  many  papers  in  this  country  attack 
nobility,  on  account  of  the  "monocle"  of  Baron 
von  Ueckutvitz,  or  the  "  double-barrelled  (?)  visit- 
ing cards"  of  Count  Naselli. 


AMERICAN  ATEWSPAPERS.  125 

As  for  me,  if  sometimes  my  opinions  are,  per- 
haps, too  frankly  expressed,  it  is  because  I  am 
writing  about  the  country,  I  am  trying  to  catch 
the  true  spirit  of  it,  and,  I  assure  you,  I  am  sincere 
and  free  from  prejudice.  If  I  do  not  wear  smoked 
glasses  to  guard  against  the  glare  on  every  hand, 
neither  am  I  gathering  my  impressions  of  the 
country  from  behind  the  pink  glasses  which  many 
of  my  friends  have  volunteered  to  loan  me. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    IDEAL    OF    THE    AMERICANS. 

IF  a   teacher    in    an    American    school    should 
ask,   "  Who  was  the  first  man  in  the  world  ?  " 
"George    Washington!"     several    pupils    would 
answer  ;  "  he  was  first  in  war,  first  in  peace,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  the  American,  who 
respects  nobody  and  nothing,  has  lifted  Washing- 
ton to  a  sphere  in  which  he  worships  him  almost 
as  a  higher  being,  and  forgets  he  was  a  man. 

By  considering  the  history  of  his  life,  one  can 
understand  to  what  an  extent  the  independence  of 
the  United  States  is  due  to  his  work,  and  to  what 
a  degree  his  tenacious  will  was  able,  in  the  midst 
of  the  discouragements  and  the  rivalries  by  which 
he  was  surrounded,  to  maintain  unity  of  efforts, 
and  assure  the  success  of  the  fight.  He  stands 
out,  in  the  history  of  his  country,  not  only  like 
the  somewhat  cold  figure  of  Cato  the  Ancient,  or 
Aristides  the  Just,  but  as  a  living  personality  of 
flesh  and  blood,  palpitating  with  the  high  concep- 
tions of  life  which  are  found  in  his  writings  : 

126 


THE   IDEAL    OF   THE   AMERICAATS.  12  J 

"  Strive  always  to  keep  from  being  extinguished 
in  your  breast,  that  little  spark  of  celestial  fire, 
which  is  called  conscience." 

That  little  spark  of  celestial  fire  never  ceased  to 
light  his  way,  and  to  guide  him  to  the  end  of  his 
pure  life. 

In  his  journal,  written  at  Mt.  Vernon,  you  can 
perceive  this  beautiful  soul  in  intimate  communion 
with  nature,  whose  slightest  change  he  noticed, 
always  admiring  her  beauty. 

But  when  he,  tired  of  going  around  his  planta- 
tions, sat  down  under  his  trees,  what  were  his 
thoughts  about  ?  Did  the  thought  of  having  as- 
sured the  independence  of  his  fatherland,  and 
founded  a  free  government,  cause  his  heart  to  beat 
with  just  pride?  Did  he  see  in  his  country's  future 
the  magnificent  prosperity  and  grandeur  which  she 
has  now  reached  ?  Or,  on  the  contrary,  was  his  soul 
already  saddened  by  the  thought  of  civil  dissension, 
and  was  he,  so  aristocratic  by  instinct  and  habits, 
preoccupied  in  advance  with  the  dangers  to  which 
the  boldness  of  democracy  without  sufficient  coun- 
terbalance could  expose  his  work  ?  * 

During  the  War  of  Secession,  they  fought 
around  Mt.  Vernon,  but  the  place  itself  was  kept 
as  neutral  ground  by  a  kind  of  tacit  agreement, 

*  Comte  d'Haussonville. 


128  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

and,  when  a  soldier  of  the  Southern  or  Northern 
army  came  to  visit  the  tomb  of  Washington,  he 
laid  aside  his  arms  when  he  entered  the  holy  place. 
Really,  it  was  beautiful  to  see  this  people,  divided 
into  hostile  political  parties,  respecting  the  memory 
of  this  great  patriot !  It  is  beautiful  for  them  to 
put,  above  all  attacks  of  a  destructive  criticism, 
their  greatest  historical  figure.  One  century  is 
passed,  and  the  political  influence  of  Washington 
is  still  felt  in  the  United  States.  The  principle 
which  he  laid  down  when  he  refused  a  third  elec- 
tion to  the  presidency  is,  in  a  great  sense,  a  con- 
stitutional rule,  and  respect  for  this  rule  has 
preserved  the  United  States,  perhaps,  from  falling 
into  the  old,  beaten  track  of  all  democracies  — 
dictatorship. 

The  moral  personality  of  Washington  has  re- 
mained no  less  intact  than  his  political  authority ; 
it  was  not  submitted  to  the  ordeal  of  dissection 
that  is  practised  by  biographers  nowadays,  and 
against  which  the  life  of  no  man  is  proof. 

The  universal  opinion  of  Americans  concerning 
him  is  cast  in  those  words  of  Everett  : 

"  He  was  the  best  man  among  good  men,  and 
the  best  of  great  men." 

To  tell  the  truth,  it  is  impossible  to  silence  all 


THE  IDEAL    OF   THE   AMERICANS.          1 29 

evil  tongues.  Some  learned  fellows,  who  have 
studied  the  question  very  closely,  will  tell  you 
that  he  had  some  human  imperfections,  that  he 
was  sometimes  angry,  and  that  he  swore  very 
badly. 

But  it  may  be  that  they  are  only  calumniators  ; 
and  I  shall  be  very  sorry  if  I  seem  to  help  the 
cause  of  his  traducers  by  quoting  here  some  love 
verses  written  by  him;  just  think,  verses  of  Wash- 
ington, and  love  verses  at  that ! 

You  can  find  them  at  the  archives  of  Washington 
in  the  State  Department. 

"  Oh,  ye  gods  !  why  should  my  poor  restless  heart, 
Stand  to  oppose  your  might  and  power, 
At  last  surrender  to  the  Cupid's  feathered  dart, 
And  now  lies  bleeding  every  hour, 
For  her  that's  pitiless  of  my  grief  and  woes, 
And  will  not  on  me  pity  take. 
I  '11  sleep  amongst  my  most  inveterate  foes, 
And  with  gladness  never  wish  to  wake. 
In  deluding  sleepings  let  my  eyelids  close, 
That,  in  an  enraptured  dream,  I  may 
In  a  soft,  lulling  sleep,  and  gentle,  repose." 

Those  juvenile  verses  do  not  prove,  however, 
that  after  his  marriage  he  was  not  scrupulously 
faithful  to  his  noble  wife,  who  came  so  often  to 
share  his  life  in  camp,  and  who,  after  his  death, 


I3O  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

remained  about  eighteen  months  without  going 
out  from  her  room,  sitting  near  the  window  from 
which  she  could  see  the  tomb  of  her  husband, 
until  the  day  on  which  she  went  to  meet  him  ;  a 
true  modern  kind  of  Roman  matron,  with  calm 
and  cold  exterior,  but  with  ardent  and  passionate 
nature. 

Comte  de  Chateaubriand  saw  Washington  only 
once,  but  it  inspired  him  for  life.  After  describ- 
ing the  interview,  he  says  : 

"  Washington  sunk  into  the  tomb  before  any 
little  celebrity  had  attached  to  my  name.  I  passed 
before  him  as  the  most  unknown  of  beings.  He 
was  in  all  his  glory,  —  I,  in  the  depth  of  my  ob- 
scurity. My  name  probably  dwelt  not  a  whole 
day  in  his  memory.  Happy,  however,  was  I  that 
his  looks  were  cast  upon  me.  I  left  warmed  by  it 
for  all  the  rest  of  my  life.  There  is  a  virtue  even 
in  the  looks  of  a  great  man." 

Looking  at  his  portrait  in  Fine  Arts  Museum 
in  Boston,  these  lines  of  Dryden  instantly  recurred 
to  me: 

"  Mark  his  majestic  fabric !  His  a  temple 
sacred  by  birth,  and  built  by  hands  divine;  his 
soul 's  the  Deity  that  lodges  there :  nor  is  the  pole 
unworthy  of  the  God." 


CHAPTER   VII. 

COLUMBIAN    FAIR. 

T  SUPPOSE  I  ought  to  call  my  book  the  »  Co- 
J-  lumbian  Book  of  America,"  as,  for  the  last 
three  years,  every  new  thing  has  borne  the  name 
"  Columbian,"  in  order  that  success  might  be 
assured.  But  as  I  am  not  so  fond  of  new  things 
as  my  American  friends,  who  are  conservative 
only  in  politics,  in  which,  however,  they  now  need 
more  new  ideas  than  in  any  other  direction,  I  will 
stick  to  old  Paris,  which  is  good  enough  for  me. 

A  world's  exhibition  is,  without  doubt,  above 
everything  else,  the  concentrated  expression  of 
the  civilization  of  a  country ;  secondly,  it  gives 
a  more  or  less  perfect  picture  of  the  progress  of 
the  whole  world.  It  is  a  kind  of  majestic  hymn 
to  the  world's  civilization. 

A  person  who  was  never  in  America  could,  by 
visiting  the  Columbian  World's  Fair,  have  an 
almost  perfect  idea  of  what  this  country  is ;  what 
are  its  tendencies,  aspirations,  tastes,  customs, 
polish  and  culture. 

In  the  first  place,  as  America  is  the  first  country 


132  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

in  the  world,  as  everything  here  is  big  and  enor- 
mous, so  was  the  Fair. 

In  the  American  conception  that  which  has  to 
be  admired  is  not  execution,  the  finish  of  details, 
the  polish  of  work  smoothed  ad  unguem.  The 
Americans  are  not  artistic  people  in  the  strict 
meaning  of  the  word.  They  do  not  know  taste, 
proportion,  the  happy  disposition  of  details ;  for 
them  it  is  a  waste  of  time  to  delay  over  such 
small  things  ;  they  have  taste  and  interest  only 
for  great  ensembles,  and  bold  plans ;  they  see 
things  large ;  they  are  blind  to  the  minutia  of 
achievement.  They  throw  over  the  rapids  of 
Niagara  a  bridge  of  fantastic  boldness,  and  they 
forget  to  add  to  it  a  parapet. 

From  the  bird's-eye  view,  the  impression  was 
striking,  blinding,  almost  bewildering,  before  those 
immense  and  endless  galleries  and  buildings.  It 
was  a  monumental  city.  The  Americans  seem  to 
have  hypertrophy  of  sight,  which  exaggerates 
conceptions  and  plans  in  every  way. 

There  was  never  seen  anything  so  colossal  as 
the  Manufactures  Building ;  there  is  not  in  the 
world  a  space  so  large  as  this  covered  with  a  roof. 
And  this  is  a  fact,  and  not  an  Americanism. 

This  Manufactures  Building  was  the  tour  de 
force  of  architecture  at  the  Columbian  Fair ;  it 


COLUMBIAN  FAIR.  133 

was  equal  to  the  Palais  des  machines  of  the  last 
Parisian  Exhibition,  but  surely  it  did  not  surpass 
it,  and  we  can  find  in  "civil  engineering"  the 
necessary  elements  to  prove  this  assertion. 

Then  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  was  the  largest 
building,  but  it  was  not  the  most  imposing,  nor 
did  the  effect  produced  come  up  to  the  architect's 
expectations.  The  two  side  galleries,  by  being 
too  low,  produced  a  gloomy  effect,  and  did  not 
permit  one,  while  within  the  building,  to  judge  the 
majesty  of  the  main  hall.  And  then,  why  such 
gigantic  proportions  ?  Not  to  shelter  the  huge 
machines,  the  enormous  masses  of  iron  and  steel, 
but  jewelry,  fashions,  furniture,  perfumery.  All 
these  things  were  too  small,  and  were  piteously 
lost  in  this  immensity. 

But  let  us  come  nearer  to  some  of  the  fagades 
and  look  on  them.  It  is  not  worth  while.  Those 
architects  whose  fault  is  boldness,  those  engineers 
of  "sky-scrapers,"  are  very  mediocre  artists  in 
the  line  of  decoration.  As  in  the  streets  of 
American  cities,  where  rich  parvenues  wish  to 
have  beautiful  houses,  we  find  here  also  an  archi- 
tecture which  is  naive  in  its  temerity,  and  awk- 
ward in  its  decoration.  They  adopted  and  mixed 
awkwardly  all  styles.  A  Corinthian  capital  sup- 
ports an  ogive ;  an  Assyrian  style  is  found  side 


I  34  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

by  side  with  Ionian.  Around  a  pretty  dome  they 
put  four  little  domes,  which  look  like  thimbles 
around  a  pumpkin. 

The  Columbian  Fair  was  large,  immense,  gigan- 
tic, but  it  was  only  a  commercial  fair,  a  larger 
shop  than  the  others,  that  is  all.  And  I  think 
I  am  right  in  saying  that  this  is  what  the 
Americans  desired.  They  made  an  open  dis- 
play of  business  —  business  before  pleasure,  busi- 
ness which  crushes  out  the  fancies  of  art,  for 
they  are  not  disposed  to  use  time  and  money  on 
such  trifles. 

Their  imagination  is  exercised  in  a  practical 
domain,  and  bows  to  the  most  vulgar  reality. 
They  exhibited  a  cheese,  unique  in  its  kind,  which 
weighed  22,000  pounds  ;  and  a  map  of  the  United 
States  made  of  preserves,  green  beans  forming  the 
lakes,  and  white  beans  the  snow  of  the  mountains. 

They  do  not  know  how  to  put  a  bit  of  pleas- 
ure in  the  work,  grace  into  strength,  gaiety  into 
gloomy  interests,  joy  into  utility.  I  do  not  envy 
them  ;  they  are  of  a  different  race. 

The  really  remarkable   thing  of  the   Fair  was 

not   the  architectural   beauty  of  the  buildings  — 

any  amount  of  shortcomings  could  be  pointed  out 

—  which   were   nothing   but   clever  imitations   o: 

combinations   of  former   styles,   and  all  together 


COLUMBIAN'  FA  IK.  135 

cannot  boast  of  as  much  genius  as  any  single 
building  contained  in  the  Parisian  Exhibition. 
The  principal  aim,  however,  was  to  make  an 
impression,  and  they  have  served  that  purpose 
in  a  most  satisfactory,  in  a  most  magnificent 
manner. 

I  wonder  if  the  Fair  did  not  owe  the  greatest 
part  of  its  success  to   the  ideas   of  two   men  — 
Architect  John   Rout   and    Frederick   Law   Olm- 
sted,  the  landscape  gardner. 

Their  mighty  first  conception  of  the  laying  out 
of  the  Fair  grounds,  of  leaving  the  buildings  with- 
out exterior  polychromy,  of  letting  these  colossi 
of  architecture  rise  from  the  lagoons,  of  giving 
to  each  a  marvellous  approach  from  all  sides  by 
wide,  intervening  ground  with  lawns  of  emerald 
green,  —  so  green  indeed  that  they  seemed  to  be 
the  growth  of  years, — formed  the  most  remarkable 
features  of  the  Fair. 

Standing  on  a  clear  day  in  the  Court  of  Honor, 
and  gazing  on  the  boundless  wealth  of  columns, 
galleries,  high  reliefs,  statues,  mighty  portals, 
pavilions,  towers,  etc.,  the  blue  unlimited  surface 
of  Lake  Michigan  shimmering  through  the  ar- 
cades, the  golden  dome  of  the  Administration 
Building,  the  sun  shining  intensely  on  all  that 
glowing  white,  sharply  outlined  against  the  pale- 


136  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

blue  sky, —  a  sight  met  our  eyes  that  can  never 
be  forgotten. 

The  best  thing  which  the  Fair  could  offer,  at 
least  from  an  ideal  point  of  view,  was  the  first 
impression. 

The  Chicago  Fair  was  one  of  those  average 
exhibitions  which,  in  reality,  bring  nothing  new, 
in  no  way  as  comprehensive  as  some  of  the 
International  European  Exhibitions,  and  in  no 
way  as  important  to  Americans  as  that  of  Phila- 
delphia. 

We  learn  once  more,  what  we  knew  already, 
that  the  Americans  are  superior  to  any  nation 
in  the  world  in  the  construction  of  their  machines 
and  some  processes  in  working  metals. 

Their  electrical  exhibition  was  the  best,  but 
there  was  nothing  new  to  be  seen ;  even  the 
celebrated  Edison  did  not  show  anything  new. 

We  learned  that  the  Lafarge  windows  for 
churches  are  most  artistic,  and  that  American 
perfumes  are  as  good  as  the  English  ;  that  the 
Americans  have  beautiful  horses,  which  they  have 
bred  with  great  skill  by  crossing  the  kinds  which 
are  most  useful  to  them,  though  still  they  are 
surpassed  by  Russia,  and  that  they  have  fine  cat- 
tle, but  not  so  good  as  the  beautiful  shorthorns 
of  the  Province  of  Ontario.  From  a  visit  to  the 


COLUMBIAN  FAIR.  137 

Manufactures  Building,  in  which  were  accumu- 
lated hundreds  of  thousands  of  objects  of  comfort, 
necessity  and  luxury,  the  impression  was  received, 
after  a  comparison  with  the  production  of  other 
countries,  that  the  aim  of  Americans  is  practical. 
Their  manufactures  one  can  call  neither  pretty 
nor  graceful,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  are 
very  convenient  for  use. 

A  large  part  of  the  success  of  the  Centennial 
Exhibition  at  Paris  in  1889  was  contributed  by 
the  intelligent  arrangements  for  pleasure. 

A  majority  of  visitors  go  to  exhibitions  not  to 
study  but  to  be  amused,  and,  if  schemes  of  enter- 
tainment are  not  expensive  and  not  in  bad  taste, 
they  will  attract  even  the  most  serious  class  of 
visitors,  as  the  most  serious  man,  after  a  day  of 
work,  likes  to  have  some  distraction.  And  those 
distractions  bring  money,  "  barrels  of  it,"  as  you 
say. 

Americans  did  not  forget  this  part  of  their 
exhibition,  and  organized  a  "  Midway  Plaisance," 
to-day  celebrated  throughout  the  world. 

While  walking  on  this  Midway  Plaisance  one's 
thoughts  naturally  turned  to  Paris  —  to  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Seine,  to  Champ -de -Mars,  where  the 
Egyptians  of  the  Cairo  streets  danced,  to  the 


138  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Esplanade,  where  one  could  make  a  picturesque 
journey  around  the  world  in  the  crowd  of  "push- 
push,"  to  the  Javanese  village,  and  the  Anamite 
theatre.  What  a  contrast ! 

How  pretty,  ingenious,  and  seductive  it  was 
there,  with  all  the  concerts,  all  the  foreign  and 
antique  reproductions,  with  gay  pavilions  and 
pleasure-grounds.  Everything  laughed  -before 
your  eyes,  and  the  feeling  of  unbounded  joyful- 
ness  rilled  even  the  rustic  visitors.  It  was  a 
great  Parisian  fete,  under  the  bright  color  of 
which  the  commercial  interests  seemed  to  be 
hidden. 

Was  it  the  same  in  Chicago  ? 

The  Americans  answer,  "  Yes,  it  was  very  gay, 
very  droll  in  the  Midway  Plaisance,"  and  their 
eyes  twinkle. 

The  Europeans,  and  especially  the  Parisians, 
say,  "  No  !  there  was  no  amusement  at  the  Chi- 
cago Fair ;  nor  was  it  possible  even  to  have  a  good 
dinner."  And  then  the  fatigue  was  almost  un- 
bearable, as  it  was  necessary  to  look  on  exhibi- 
tions spread  over  two  hundred  and  ninety  acres  ! 

Even  the  forty  beauties  on  exhibition  had  the 
appearance  of  being  in  a  penitentiary,  the  poor 
things  ! 

They  were  exposed  on  a  stage  around  the  hall, 


COLUMBIAN  FAIR.  139 

at  their  feet  a  placard  indicating  the  nationality. 
And  what  a  silence !  It  was  not  permitted  to 
those  pretty  things  to  talk.  Just  think  !  Not  to 
talk  for  six  months  !  Not  to  be  out  a  single  day ! 
In  a  land  of  liberty,  and  women  at  that ! 

The  manager,  inspired  by  the  line  of  a  popu- 
lar English  song,  "  My  face  is  my  fortune,"  told 
them  : 

"  My  fortune  is  in  your  faces  ;  you  cannot  then 
show  them  except  to  those  who  show  tickets." 

It  was  terrible,  and  there  were  some  who  re- 
volted. Four  or  five,  with  the  help  of  generous 
friends,  "skipped  out."  And  I  approve  their 
course.  The  others  were  desolate  but  resigned  ; 
the  belle  Fatima,  for  instance,  and  the  Chinese 
were  immovable  as  statues ;  the  others  were 
broken-hearted,  especially  the  Swedish  girl  and 
the  Arlesienne.  Oh,  how  sad  the  Arlesienne  was ! 
She  told  me  her  whole  story  and  her  sorrow. 
She  was  from  New  York,  and  she  was  so  lone- 
some in  Chicago  ! 

The  public  visiting  the  Chicago  Fair  was  com- 
posed of  working  people  or  farmers  to  the  extent 
of  ninety  per  cent.  They  are  simple  people  with 
elementary  education  ;  no  wonder,  then,  that  every- 
thing was  marvellous  to  them.  They  visited 


140  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

everything,  and,  as  they  did  not  know  much,  they 
tortured  with  their  endless  questions  the  commis- 
saries and  agents  who  were  looking  after  different 
sections  of  the  exhibition. 

The  inhabitants  of  towns  have  no  more  edu- 
cation, either,  than  the  farmers  and  the  village 
population.  You  heard  in  the  picture-gallery, 
for  instance,  such  questions  as  — 

"From  what  factory  do  those  pictures  come?" 

"  How  many  pictures  can  an  artist  make  in  a 
day?" 

While  sitting  in  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Art 
Palace  one  day,  Miss  A.  noticed  a  middle-aged 
couple  studying  a  huge  canvas.  She  heard  them 
discussing  the  picture  and  wondering  as  to  the 
name.  The  man  said  to  the  woman  : 

"  I  will  go  and  find  out." 

Soon  he  returned  and  said  : 

"I  have  learned  it,  this  is  ...   not  competing." 

The  woman  assented,  and  both  turned  away 
satisfied.  The  inscription  on  the  picture  was  hors 
concours. 

Sometimes  a  "gentleman  "  would  come  and  rap 
on  the  picture  with  his  stick  or  umbrella,  or  try 
the  strength  of  the  marble  and  break  the  hand  or 
foot  of  some  Venus.  In  this  way,  two  statues 
and  four  pictures  were  damaged. 


COLUMBIAN  FAIR.  141 

To  prove  that  I  am  not  writing  with  any  prej- 
udice, I  refer  to  a  clipping  from  the  Boston  Globe : 

"CHICAGO,  June  29.  —  Vandalism  is  rife  at  the  Fair. 

"  Many  of  the  exhibits  have  been  damaged  to  a  consid- 
erable extent  by  persons  who  do  not  hesitate  to  chip  pieces 
off  chairs  and  labels,  or  take  small  and  valuable  exhibits 
away  with  them  as  souvenirs. 

"  Those  from  the  Woman's  Building  have  been  the 
greatest  sufferers. 

"  Tuesday  night  some  one  broke  a  piece  from  a  beautiful 
chair  sent  to  the  Exhibition  by  the  Princess  of  Wales. 

"  From  the  fact  that  the  piece  broken  out  was  taken 
away  it  would  appear  that  the  act  was  done  to  obtain  a 
souvenir. 

"  The  chair  is  valued  at  $500." 

Also  to  an  editorial  from  the  Boston  Herald : 

"It  was,  perhaps,  inevitable  that  the  American  vandal  of 
both  sexes  should  put  in  an  appearance  at  the  World's 
Fair,  yet  the  story  of  damage  and  theft  which  comes  from 
the  White  City  is  no  less  exasperating  and  discreditable. 

"  The  mania  for  securing  souvenirs  of  all  sorts  of  objects, 
supposed  to  possess  exceptional  interest  or  value,  has  too 
often  found  illustration  in  this  country." 

When  going  to  the  Fair  Grounds,  almost  every- 
body brought  something  to  eat,  —  coffee,  milk, 
bread,  fruit.  When  one  was  hungry,  he  took  a 
seat,  sometimes  under  a  poetic  statue,  and,  with- 


1 42  A   PARISIAN  IX  AMERICA. 

out  any  embarrassment,  satisfied  the  inner  man. 
After  his  lunch,  he  stuck  a  piece  of  chewing 
tobacco  in  his  mouth,  and  prepared  for  copious 
expectoration.  This  pretty  chewing  habit  is 
practised  by  the  women  also,  with  this  difference, 
that  the  women  prefer  gum.  . 

Those  rough  crowds  did  not  know  how  to  walk, 
as  they  are  clumsy  and  awkward  from  hard  work. 
In  the  most  frequented  entrances  they  placed 
chairs,  and  sat  down  in  the  most  comfortable  way 
imaginable ;  walking  along,  they  stared  above,  on 
every  side,  never  straight  ahead,  and  so  they 
either  walked  on  your  feet  or  collided  "head  on." 
It  was  not  the  public  of  the  large  or  the  small 
cities,  it  was  the  great  American  public. 

And  this  is  the  conclusion.  The  Chicago 
World's  Fair  may  be  considered  as  a  big  success 
in  this  sense,  that  the  exhibitors  came  from  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  made  a  very  brilliant 
showing.  The  most  remarkable  exhibitions  of 
the  Americans  were  the  methods  or  means  of 
transportation,  the  mining  section,  the  electricity 
building,  the  machinery,  the  departments  of  eth- 
nography and  fisheries.  There  was,  in  those 
special  exhibitions,  an  evidence  of  great  effort, 
and  a  very  intense  display  of  intelligence.  One 
was  impressed  with  a  sentiment  of  great  admira- 


COLUMBIAN  FAIR.  143 

tion  for  the  absolute  devotion  to  specialities,  and, 
consequently,  one  had  the  conviction  that  there 
were  large  fields  for  useful  study  by  amateurs  in 
every  branch  of  commerce  and  industry. 

In  the  Woman's  Building,  the  national  success 
was  complete. 

The  American  woman  is  always  "in  it." 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

ART. 

WHEN  I  published  "Boston  Artists,"  Mr.  E. 
H.  Clement,  the  editor  of  the  Boston 
Evening  Transcript,  said  to  me  : 

"  I  congratulate  you  on  your  clever  book,  but, 
if  you  wish  to  meet  with  financial  success,  you 
must  write  something  practical,  as  the  Silver 
Question,  for  instance,  because,  in  America,  art 
is  considered  as  a  frivolous  thing ;  '  'tis  true,  'tis 
pity,  and  pity  'tis,  'tis  true,'  as  Shakespeare 
says." 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Mr.  Clement,  with  his 
experience  in  journalism,  and  his  intimacy  with 
American  aspirations,  must  be  right,  but  it  would 
not  check  my  enthusiasm  for  art  in  general,  and 
for  American  art  in  particular;  I  hope  to  com- 
municate some  of  this  enthusiasm  to  my  readers, 
and  interest  them  in  reading  this  chapter  on 
American  art  ;  for  art  is  liberty,  and  happiness, 
and  peace,  and  glory,  and  immortality,  not  only 
for  the  individual,  but  also  for  the  nation. 

The  strong,  healthy,  well-built  youths  come 
144 


ART.  145 

from  the  heights,  with  noble  gestures  and  heroic 
mien. 

"...  he  saw  a  youth  approaching 
Dressed  in  garments  green  and  yellow, 
Coming  through  the  purple  twilight, 
Through  the  splendour  of  the  sunset." 

They  are  followed  by  girls  in  artistic  draperies, 
with  flowers  twined  in  the  voluptuous  tresses  of 
their  hair,  whose  laughter  sounds  like  music  in 
the  balmy  air.  All  nature,  all  created  things,  will 
bow  low  to  this  country,  because  it  will  possess 
art. 

This  great  art  is  coming  to  a  happier  genera- 
tion. For  them  one  must  acquire  it ;  one  must 
sacrifice  himself  in  order  that  they  may  live  and 
enjoy.  Not  a  very  pleasant  task,  perhaps,  but 
your  grandchildren  will  admire  you  for  it. 

Gracefully  and  full  of  admiration  and  reverence, 
they  will  erect  monuments  in  public  places,  and 
in  appreciative  hearts,  to  all  the  brave  who  have 
struggled  for  glorious  art. 

It  is  strange  to  notice  that  this  nation,  which  is 
so  great  in  other  things,  has  lately  slackened  its 
pace  in  its  literary  development,  but  has  acquired 
more  strength  in  art. 


146  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

In  the  first  place  I  was  surprised  at  the  wide- 
spread artistic  movement  in  this  country,  and  still 
more  by  its  sound  direction.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  the  general  direction  of  American  artists 
is  indubitably  superior  to  that  of  the  English,  who 
paint  sentiments  and  passions,  and  also  of  the 
Germans,  who  paint  themes  and  anecdotes,  con- 
ceiving their  pictures  in  the  brain  instead  of  by 
the  eye. 

The  Chicago  World's  Fair  made  clear  another 
thing,  that  American  art  can  accomplish  anything. 
At  every  step  the  pictures  of  the  first  order,  in 
regard  to  technical  accomplishments,  demanded  a 
nod  of  approval.  A  good  display  of  technique 
and  many  canvases  of  bright,  fashionable  colour- 
ing were  conspicuous.  Some  critics  complained 
that  overabundance  of  imagination  does  not  inflict 
brain  fever  on  American  artists,  and  that  there 
were  less  than  a  dozen  pictures  that  expressed 
sentiment  ;  but  my  humble  opinion  is,  that  just 
this  lack  of  sentimental  pictures  is  to  the  credit 
of  American  art,  as  art  should  neither  compete 
with  poetry  nor  moralize,  and,  consequently,  it 
should  not  be  helped  by  imaginary  dreams. 

"  Modern  American  painting  has  no  ideal,"  says 
mother  critic. 

What  nonsense !     The  whole  ideal  in  painting 


ART.  147 

is  the  use  of  the  brush  and  colours,  and  the  amount 
of  artistic  feeling  put  into  it ;  and  the  American 
artists  who  paint  in  this  way  are  right ;  they  fol- 
low the  example  of  such  a  virtuoso  of  the  brush 
and  painter  of  still  life  as  Volon,  and  they  avoid 
the  perpetration  of  such  paintings  as  "  Listening 
to  the  Fairies,"  by  Bodenhausen,  or  "The  Fairy 
of  the  Alps,"  by  Dielitz  —  paintings  the  popular- 
ity of  which  is  attested  by  the  sale  of  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  copies. 

Some  American  cliauvinists  —  the  word  is 
French,  but  every  country  has  its  chauvinists  — 
see  a  kind  of  humiliation  in  the  fact  that  Amer- 
ican art  follows  French  art,  and  by  every  possible 
means  they  try  to  prove  that  the  leading  painters 
of  America  have  tacitly  repudiated  the  French 
school  —  the  broadest  and  most  encouraging  phe- 
nomenon which  analysis  discovers.  According  to 
their  opinion,  in  the  works  of  Sargent,  Thayer, 
Lafarge,  Homer,  Inness,  and  others,  there  is  noth- 
ing more  interesting  than  the  independence  of 
style  illustrated. 

If  American  artists  should  follow  such  patriots, 
and  seek  in  the  pictures  of  their  countrymen 
"independence"  only  as  the  "most  interesting 
thing,"  there  soon  would  be  no  more  art  in 
America,  Certainly  a  close  imitation,  especially 


148  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

of  bad  things,  is  wrong ;  but  it  is  not  wrong  to 
follow  a  good  idea,  as,  for  instance,  to  build  a 
temple  after  the  principles  of  Greek  architecture. 
Then  why  should  it  be  wrong  to  paint  after  the 
ideas  of  Claude  Monet  ? 

And  then  those  short-sighted  patriots  ought  to 
know  and  remember  that  great  art  is  international, 
universal.  What  is  the  difference  whether  Child 
Hassam  paints  a  street  in  Paris  or  a  street  in 
New  York  ?  Would  the  picture  representing  a 
street  in  Paris  cease  to  be  painted  by  an  Amer- 
ican artist,  and  would  Hassam  therefore  be 
counted  among  French  painters  ?  Does  Sprague 
Pearce,  who  almost  always  paints  French  peas- 
ants, cease  to  be  one  of  the  foremost  American 
painters  ?  Marcus  Waterman  paints  Oriental  life, 
but  he  is  an  American  ;  it  is  the  same  with 
Weeks  and  many  others. 

Then  why  this  ridiculous  chauvinism,  this 
aspiration  to  have  by  any  and  every  means  a 
national  art  ?  Is  it  a  peculiar  form  of  gratitude 
towards  France  for  the  liberal  and  free  artistic 
education  which  is  given  to  hundreds  of  Amer- 
ican artists  every  year  ? 

Such  a  highly  artistic  soul  as  is  your  talented 
and  tasteful  novelist,  Marion  Crawford,  wrote  to 
me  : 


ART.  149 

"  I  have  much  sympathy  for  the  French  as  a 
nation,  and  I  have  also  good  friends  of  your 
nationality.  With  all  the  desire  in  the  world  to 
have  a  school  of  art  of  our  own,  we  are  not 
ashamed  to  say  that  most  of  us  look  to  the 
French  as  artistic  leaders,  and  that  the  best  of 
what  art  we  have  has  been  derived  from  your 
country.  It  is  with  sincere  pleasure  that  we  find 
among  us  so  eminent  a  critic  as  yourself  seriously 
studying  what  we  have  produced,  and  willing  to 
judge  it  seriously." 

And,  "  seriously "  talking,  I  do  not  hesitate  to 
state  that  American  art  possesses  already  some 
artists  di  primo  cartello,  and  that  its  direction  is 
most  sound  as  set  forth  in  these  few  words  : 

"  Nature  is  the  best  master  ;  the  interpretation 
of  it,  mingled  with  talent,  or,  if  possible,  with 
genius,  individuality,  and  a  certain  amount  of 
artistic  feeling,  are  absolute  conditions  in  the  true 
work  of  art." 

In  fact,  I  do  not  know  a  country  possessing 
better  conditions  for  the  development  of  art  than 
the  United  States. 

Art  is  a  luxury,  and,  therefore,  only  a  rich 
country  can  afford  it.  The  American  is  immensely 
rich  and  likes  luxury,  often  not  on  account  of  a 


ISO  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

cultivated  taste  and  refinement,  but  from  the 
petty  vanity  of  love  of  show.  This  is  of  no 
importance,  however,  so  long  as  he  pays  the 
artist,  and  gives  him  a  chance  to  develop  his 
talent,  for  which  purpose  some  material  means 
are  necessary. 

Of  course,  the  ignorance  of  rich  parvenues 
gives  a  good  chance  to  shrewd  botchers  of  painters 
to  sell  their  daubs,  while  modest  artists,  with  real 
talent,  starve.  But  little  by  little  those  ignorant 
people  who  pay  for  their  blunders  will  learn. 

I  know  of  a  man  who  lives  in  a  mansion  that 
cost  a  hundred  thousand  dollars,  who  adorned  his 
house  with  pictures  painted  by  a  sign-painter. 

A  city  I  recently  visited  has  ornamented  its 
really  pretty  City  Hall  with  horrible  daubs, 
painted  by  a  sign-painter,  and  has  paid  to  this 
cheeky  fellow,  who  calls  himself  an  artist,  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  for  pictures  which  are  not  worth 
as  many  cents. 

Such  is  the  result  of  democratic  ideas  applied 
in  the  field  of  art,  and  claiming  equal  rights  in 
artistic  matters.  How  ridiculous! 

There  is  a  good  story  told  of  the  ignorance  of 
an  American  who  once  worked  for  six  dollars  per 
week ;  by  ability  and  energy  he  made  money  in 
the  shoe  business,  and  built  a  gorgeous  house 


ART.  151 

One  morning  a  young  man  came  to  this  brave  but 
uncultivated  manufacturer  with  two  oil  paintings, 
—  of  course  they  were  landscapes,  —  and  said  : 

"  I  am  going  to-morrow  to  Paris  to  study  art, 
and  I  would  like  to  have  as  much  money  as  I  can. 
I  have  here  two  pictures,  which  I  will  sell  you  for 
five  hundred  dollars." 

"  Well,  I  was  thinking  of  getting  some  pictures, 
but  I  do  not  intend  to  invest  five  hundred  dollars." 

"  How  much  would  you  be  willing  to  invest  ? " 
asked  our  pseudo-artist. 

"  Oh !  I  don't  know ;  perhaps  three  hundred 
dollars." 

"  Well,  sir,  I  will  let  you  have  those  pictures 
for  three  hundred  dollars,  on  condition  that  if  I 
shall  come  back  to  you  within  a  year  or  two,  pay 
you  back  your  money,  and,  let 's  say,  ten  per  cent., 
you  will  give  me  back  my  pictures." 

"That  will  suit  me  perfectly,"  was  the  answer; 
and  a  check  for  the  amount  soon  followed. 

A  few  days  after  Mr.  Jack  met  a  friend  of  his, 
likewise  a  parvenu. 

"  Look  here,  Fred,  I  wish  you  would  come  and 
see  my  pictures,"  said  Jack. 

"  You  have  bought  some  pictures  ?  So  have  I ; 
and  I  would  be  pleased  to  show  them  to  you." 

And  then  they  set  to  work  beating  each  other 


152  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

at  pictures,  as  they  had  for  several  years  at  busi- 
ness. 

"Well,  they  are  exactly  like  mine,"  exclaimed 
Jack,  after  a  glance  at  the  pictures  ;  "  how  much 
did  you  pay  for  them  ?  " 

"  I  paid  thirty-five  dollars,  and  I  think  I  paid 
their  full  value." 

Of  course,  our  poor  Jack  said  nothing  about 
having  paid  three  hundred  dollars  for  the  same 
pictures  ;  he  had  been  fooled,  but  he  would  not 
acknowledge  it. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  takes  great  pride  in  his 
smartness. 

The  second  excellent  condition  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  art  is  the  boldness  in  purchasing  and 
the  love  of  new  things  which  is  so  inculcated  in 
the  American  soul.  As  a  proof  of  it  I  shall  re- 
mind you  that  the  genius  of  Millet  was  first  appre- 
ciated by  the  Americans,  and  that  the  glorious 
impressionistic  movement  was  helped  on  by  Ameri- 
cans. In  1886,  Durand-Ruel  organized  his  famous 
exhibition,  in  which,  for  the  first  time,  the  impres- 
sionistic school  was  shown  in  this  country.  The 
amateurs  of  the  New  World  could  then  see  and 
admire  artists  of  such  value  as  Manet,  John  Lewis 
Brown,  Degas,  Boudin,  Monet,  Pissarro,  Renoir, 
Berthe  Morizot,  Miss  Cassatt.  It  was  then  that 


ART.  153 

Mr.  Albert  Spencer,  one  of  the  best  American 
connoisseurs,  gave  the  first  signal  by  buying  twelve 
Monets  and  two  Renoirs.  It  was  then,  also,  that 
Messrs.  Fuller,  Lambert,  Lawrence,  Kingman,  and 
Sutton  made  their  first  acquisitions. 

The  following  year  the  success  was  greater  in  a 
second  exhibition,  in  which  the  qualities  of  the 
new  school  were  shown,  beside  such  names  as 
Courbet,  Daubigny,  Delacroix,  Dupre,  Henner, 
Meissonier,  Rousseau,  Corot. 

For  the  first  time,  then,  Puvis  de  Chavannes 
entered  gloriously  into  America  with  such  master- 
pieces as  "  Reduction  des  Pcintures  du  Pantheon" 
"rAumonc"  "  Ludus  pro  patria"  Sainte  Made- 
leine" and  "  le  Pauvre  PecJieur." 

In  justice  to  M.  Durand-Ruel,  we  must  say 
that  he  was  the  first  to  understand  the  impor- 
tance of  the  impressionistic  movement,  which 
actually  came  to  American  art  after  having  re- 
newed artistic  tendencies  in  France  and,  one 
can  say,  throughout  Europe. 

It  seems  that  the  artistic  charm  touched  with 
its  magical  wand  such  hard  souls  as  the  American 
millionaires ;  for  George  Vanderbilt  seems  to 
possess  some  real  knowledge  of  art,  and  Launt 
Thompson,  the  sculptor,  has  said  that  William 
Waldorf  Astor  has  learned  to  paint  and  to  model 


154  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

with  a  knowledge  of  technique  that  few  profes- 
sionals acquire,  not  to  make  an  exhibition  of  his 
accomplishments,  but  to  form  his  taste. 

The  other  millionaires,  if  they  do  not  know 
much  about  art,  imitate  the  old  European  aris- 
tocracy, proud  not  only  of  its  ancestors,  but  more 
of  its  refinement  and  taste  for  the  beautiful,  by 
building  galleries  in  their  rich  and  spacious  man- 
sions, and  by  buying  pictures  and  statues.  As 
they  have  no  real  taste,  they  prefer  to  have  pic- 
tures signed  with  foreign  names  which  are  well 
known  in  the  European  market ;  but,  from  time 
to  time,  it  happens  that  they  buy  an  American 
production  of  art. 

Finally,  the  American  is  very  laborious  by 
instinct ;  the  American  artist  works  hard,  and 
this  is  one  of  the  secrets  in  reaching  the  summit 
of  art,  as  Taine  says  ;  though,  of  course,  one  must 
have  some  talent.  Harmony  of  colour,  like  har- 
mony in  music  and  in  lines,  is  a  matter  of  instinct 
or  natural  talent.  No  theory  will  enable  a  man, 
who  has  no  eye  for  harmony  of  colour,  to  dispose 
colours  harmoniously,  any  more  than  any  theory 
of  music  will  enable  one,  who  has  not  a  musical 
ear,  to  distinguish  between  harmonies  and  dis- 
cords. 

All  these  conditions  have  already  given  splendid 


ART.  155 

results  in  the  field  of  American  art ;  I  say  "  splen- 
did," as  they  really  are,  taking  into  consideration  the 
circumstances  attending  its  development.  In  the 
first  place,  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  never  had  great 
aptitudes  for  any  kind  of  art ;  they  are  splendid 
farmers,  bold  sailors,  talented  financiers  ;  but  by 
no  means  artists.  The  artistic  taste  of  Americans 
came  to  them  by  the  commingling  of  other  bloods. 
Then,  their  country  is  very  young,  in  a  state  of 
growth,  and  they  have  commenced  their  artistic 
life  only  recently ;  and  we  know  that  ars  est  longa. 
The  War  of  Secession  was  disastrous,  not  only 
to  the  brave  and  refined  Southerners,  but,  also,  to 
American  art,  because  the  country  has  been  inun- 
dated with  the  worst  kind  of  monuments  to  sol- 
diers. It  is  a  pity  that  so  much  money  has  been 
wasted  for  those  granite  and  marble  pyramids 
and  columns,  ornamented  with  horrible  bronze  fig- 
ures. Nearly  every  city  and  large  town  has  a 
soldiers'  monument,  but  I  have  seen  but  few  good 
ones  among  them,  although  I  have  seen  a  great 
many. 

Nevertheless,  the  American  people  can  be 
proud  in  having  such  figure  painters  as  Abbott 
Thayer,  Chase,  Charles  Sprague  Pearce,  Marcus 
Waterman,  Tarbel,  Benson,  Walter  Gay,  McEven, 


156  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

T.  Robinson,  David  Neal,  Toby  Rosenthal,  Mel- 
chers,  Karl  Mahr,  Dannat,  Bridgman,  Weeks, 
Ridgvvay  Knight,  Stewart,  Harrison,  Walker, 
Abbey,  Dewing,  Church,  Brown,  Childe  Hassam, 
Homer,  Davies,  and,  above  all,  Lafarge,  Sargent, 
and  Whistler.'  Splendid  names! 

Inness,  Homer  Martin,  D.  W.  Tryon,  Minor, 
Davis,  Enn eking,  Murphy,  Cole,  Metcalf,  Coffin, 
Ross  Turner,  Hardwick,  Triscott,  Hayden,  are 
excellent  landscape  painters. 

In  statuary  America  possesses  Saint  Gaudens, 
Daniel  French,  Ward,  Brown,  Macmonnies,  Bis- 
sell,  H.  H.  Kitson,  Theo.  A.  Ruggles,  Dalin,  and 
Proctor. 

The  names  of  Whitney,  Closson,  Juengling, 
King,  Cole,  Johnson,  Kruell,  Davis,  French,  and 
Lindsay,  should  have  a  proud  place  in  the  history 
of  American  art  as  wood-engravers  who  interpret 
paintings  with  masterly  skill. 

Keppler,  Bernard,  Gillam,  Opper,  Hamilton, 
Worth,  Woolf,  Mast,  Beard,  Rogers,  Taylor, 
Gibson,  Bellew  ("Chip"),  Howarth,  Zimmerman, 
Khrhart,  Victor  Gillam,  Griffin,  Ver  Beck,  Glack- 
ens,  emphasize  one  feature  of  American  civiliza- 
tion by  the  great  amount  of  humour  in  their 
caricatures  and  cartoons  ;  Smedley  and  Reinhart, 
too,  are  very  capable  illustrators. 


ART.  157 

There  are  hundreds  of  other  artists,  who  are 
less  famous,  but  are  quite  creditable  to  a  young 
country. 

I  must  not  forget  to  speak  with  praise  of  the 
great  artistic  merit  of  Mr.  John  Low,  of  Chelsea, 
Mass.,  who,  by  making  very  tasteful  soda  foun- 
tains, contributes  much  to  the  popularization  of 
the  beautiful. 

In  short,  the  development  of  good  taste  is 
making  rapid  progress  among  the  masses,  and 
there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  pictures 
seen  in  American  houses  thirty  years  ago  and 
now ;  if  they  do  not  have  masterpieces,  we  can  see 
good  engravings  and  reproductions  of  good  pictures 
at  least.  They  frame  and  hang  them  tastefully. 
Of  course,  here  and  there,  you  will  see,  in  a  house 
that  has  been  built  at  a  cost  of  $50,000  or  $100,- 
ooo,  horrid  daubs  of  no  value ;  but  these  are 
becoming  rarer  every  year. 

Such  is  the  development  of  American  art  in  so 
short  a  time  as  two  decades. 

The  American  art  seems  to  possess  a  strong 
enough  element  to  become  the  future  successor 
of  French  art,  which  stands  to-day  at  the  head  of 
the  world  of  art.  American  art  is  likely  to  suc- 
ceed French  art,  and  this  will  follow  when  the 
mercenary  spirit,  when  ostentatious  rivalry  and 


158  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

display  and  superficial  effect,  have  been  eliminated 
by  the  ascendent  aspiration  for  the  beautiful.  It 
is  only  then  that  a  nation  reaches  immortality. 
Artistic  Greece  has  survived  all  calamities  of  the 
ages,  and  still  vividly  lives  in  the  minds  of  culti- 
vated mankind,  while  few  contemplate  the  trade 
of  forgotten  Phoenicia. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

ARCHITECTURE 

T  WOULD  be  only  too  happy  to  be  able  to  say 
*-  that  the  direction  of  American  architecture  is 
as  good  as  that  of  painting,  but,  unhappily,  it  is 
not  a  fact.  To-day  all  young  and  ambitious  archi- 
tects have  a  somewhat  morbid  but  justifiable 
desire  of  being  up  to  date,  of  being  modern  and 
fashionable.  The  architects  alone  are  not  in  the 
movement.  Their  professional  duties  have,  of 
late,  become  very  prosaic  and  unpretentious,  and, 
one  might  say,  have  acquired  a  philanthropical 
tendency.  Modern,  every -day  demands  necessi- 
tate, first  of  all,  a  consideration  for  utility,  com- 
fort and  sanitation  in  architecture,  and,  after  due 
respect  for  this  trinity,  there  remains  but  little 
show  for  any  artistic  quality. 

Morsels  of  various  styles  are  simply  gathered 
here  and  there  out  of  excellent  handbooks  to  form 
buildings,  which  are  constructed  against  all  good 
taste  in  lines. 

There  is,  for  instance,  a  library  in  Fairhaven, 
Mass.,  which  was  given  to  the  town  by  Henry 


l6o  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

H.  Rogers.  Mr.  Rogers  was  born  in  Fairhaven, 
and,  after  having  accumulated  a  fortune,  perpet- 
uated his  name  by  spending  half  a  million  for  a 
public  library. 

Half  a  million  for  a  small  library  !  One  could 
build  a  masterpiece  for  such  a  sum,  and  it  was 
the  intention  of  Mr.  Charles  Brigham,  an  archi- 
tect from  cultivated  Boston,  to  do  so,  I  suppose. 
He  made  a  big  impression  upon  the  Philistines, 
however,  by  setting  up  a  tower,  and  by  uniting 
the  round,  rough  forms  of  the  Romanesque  style 
with  the  fine  ornaments  of  the  Renaissance. 
What  a  barbarous  idea !  And  then  the  whole 
building  is  of  roughly  cut  granite,  very  proper  for 
the  Romanesque  style,  while  the  ornaments  are  in 
yellow  terra-cotta  work ! 

Certainly  it  is  a  pity  to  spend  half  a  million  of 
dollars  and  have  such  a  library  built,  which  will 
be  set  up  as  an  example  of  fine  architecture,  and 
will  impede  instead  of  advance  the  development 
of  good  taste. 


Such  examples  of  a  striving  for  originality  by 
American  architects  one  can  find  in  every  city 
and  in  every  town  of  the  United  States.  And 
really  in  this  respect  the  taste  is  spoiled.  The 


ARCHITECTURE.  l6l 

best  proof  of  my  statement  is  that,  when  the  city 
of  Boston  decided  to  have  a  new  library,  and  a 
certain  set  of  tasteful  people  urged  the  acceptance 
of  the  plans  of  the  building  which  has  been 
erected,  there  was  an  every -day  contest  in  the 
papers  by  so-called  critics,  who  tried  by  every 
means  and  all  possible  arguments  to  prove  that 
this  tasteful  and  highly  artistic  building  would  be 
a  failure.  If  this  building  had  been  made  of  red 
brick,  and  ornamented  with  terra-cotta  work,  like 
the  Fine  Arts  Museum,  which  looks  like  a  piece 
of  gingerbread,  and  if  it  had  a  tower  —  a  very 
high  tower  —  or  two  towers,  like  Carnegie's  library 
in  Pittsburg,  it  would  satisfy  the  public  taste. 

But  the  New  York  architects,  McKim,  Mead 
&  White,  wanted  to  set  a  good  example  of  culti- 
vated taste,  which  would  eliminate  sham  and  pre- 
tense. No  matter  if  this  building  is  an  imitation, 
or,  rather,  an  improved  copy,  of  the  Bibliotheque 
de  Ste.  Genevieve  in  Paris.  The  dome  of  St. 
Peter's,  Rome,  is  an  improved  copy  of  the  dome 
of  Santa  Maria  del  Fiore  in  Florence,  and  yet 
nobody  thinks  of  censuring  Michael  Angelo  for 
having  taken  the  idea  from  Brunelleschi. 

The  Capitol  in  Washington  —  that  colossus  of 
marble  —  can  be  admired  from  the  back,  but, 
looked  at  from  the  front,  the  giant  seems  to  kneel 


1 62  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

down  in  an  act  of  humility.  The  City  Hall  in 
Philadelphia  is  a  very  costly  and  enormous  build- 
ing; Chicago  possesses  the  Auditorium  of  twenty 
stories ;  New  York,  Madison  Square  Garden,  with 
a  very  high  tower  and  many  little  domes,  which 
look  like  thimbles  ;  but  Boston  possesses  the  most 
tranquil  and  most  harmonious  building  in  America, 
in  its  Public  Library,  and  that  masterpiece  of 
Romanesque  style,  Trinity  Church,  by  the  best 
architect  of  this  country,  Richardson,  who  con- 
structed, also,  for  the  glory  of  New  England,  such 
jewels  as  the  library  in  North  Easton,  Mass.,,  and 
the  library  in  Woburn,  Mass. 

These  four  highly  artistic  monuments  give  ar- 
tistic supremacy  to  New  England,  and  eloquently 
attest  to  its  higher  degree  of  culture. 

And  then  all  over  New  England,  in  its  cities 
and  towns,  you  can  find  pretty  buildings.  In 
Brockton  you  find  the  City  Hall  in  the  Roman- 
esque style,  and  the  Court-house  in  the  Renais- 
sance—  quite  artistic;  in  Taunton  the  tower  of 
City  Hall  is  exceedingly  pretty  by  its  artistic 
chiselling  in  granite.  In  Holyoke  there  are  two 
Protestant  churches  without  great  aspiration  for 
high  art,  but  still  tasteful.  In  Providence  Eather 
Welch  is  building  a  pretty  basilica,  which,  although 
it  will  not  be  so  costly  as  the  cathedral,  will  be  a 


ARCHITECTURE.  163 

great  deal  prettier,  as  the  latter  has  been  built 
without  any  taste. 

I  have  observed  that  the  Catholics  have  costly 
churches,  but  that  they  seldom  display  any  nota- 
ble taste.  And  I  know  of  hardly  one  Catholic 
church  with  highly  artistic  merits,  except,  of 
course,  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Patrick  in  New 
York.  I  am  rather  inclined  to  say  that  this 
Cathedral  is  the  most  beautiful  church  in  the 
United  States.  Just  think  of  it,  in  a  country  of 
such  wealth  there  are  only  two  churches  worthy 
of  admiration,  —  Trinity  Church  in  Boston  and 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral  in  New  York !  Don't  you 
think  that  it  is  rather  too  few  ?  And  it  is  the 
result  of  the  materialistic  and  utilitarian  spirit  of 
this  country,  which  is  impressed  even  upon  the 
Gothic  style  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  its  charac- 
ter being  marked  by  stiffness  in  lines  and  lack  of 
ornamentation. 

In  the  interior  there  is  the  same  impression  — 
too  much  light  —  the  proportions  are  too  small, 
the  lines  too  stiff,  the  harmony  too  cold ;  one  can 
say  that  the  business  spirit  of  the  American  peo- 
ple, which  is  based  upon  intellect,  and  does  not 
leave  anything  to  the  imagination,  has  left  its 
stamp  upon  the  arches  and  columns  of  the  Cathe- 
dral of  St.  Patrick. 


164  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  cathedral  of  the  Middle  Ages  would  sug- 
gest grand  and  sombre  reveries,  .the  sentiment  of 
human  misery,  the  vague  thought  of  an  ideal 
kingdom  where  the  passionate  heart  would  find 
consolation  and  be  transported  with  joy. 

If  there  is  one  place  in  the  world  where  it  is 
proper  to  experience  tenderness,  contrition,  vener- 
ation, the  grand  and  sorrowful  sentiment  of  the 
infinite  "  higher  world,"  that  place  is  a  church. 
But,  unfortunately,  one  experiences  in  the  Cathe- 
dral of  St.  Patrick  sentiments  contrary  to  these. 

While  I  was  sitting  in  this  church  I  was  re- 
minded of  our  Gothic  churches  —  Reims,  Chartres, 
Soissons,  Paris,  Strasburg  above  all.  I  have  seen 
the  Cathedral  of  Strasburg  many  times,  and  I 
have  passed  an  afternoon  alone  in  its  enormous 
interior,  drowned  in  the  shade.  A  strange  .light, 
a  sort  of  purple,  moving  shade,  died  into  impene- 
trable darkness.  Deep  within  the  choir  and  the 
absidc,  with  their  massive  circles  of  round  col- 
umns, the  strong,  primitive,  and  half  Romanesque 
church  disappeared  into  the  night.  No  chairs  in 
the  grand  nave,  scarcely  five  or  six  faithful  on 
their  knees,  wandering  as  shades.  The  miserable 
business,  the  frippery  of  every -clay  life,  the  buz- 
zing of  the  human  insects,  did  not  come  to  trouble 
the  sanctity  of  its  solitude. 


ARCHITECTURE.  165 

The  large  space  between  the  pillars  extended  in 
darkness  under  the  vault,  peopled  with  doubtful 
lights  and  shades  almost  palpable.  Above  the 
choir  it  was  completely  dark ;  a  single  luminous 
window  detached  itself,  full  of  gleaming  figures 
like  an  opening  into  Paradise. 

The  choir  was  filled  with  the  priests,  but  one 
did  not  distinguish  any  opening,  so  deep  was  the 
shade  and  so  great  the  distance.  No  ornaments 
or  little  idols  visible.  Alone  in  the  obscurity, 
among  the  grand  forms  that  one  distinguished, 
two  chandeliers,  like  two  trembling  souls,  with 
their  lighted  candles,  illuminated  the  two  corners 
of  the  altar. 

How  those  barbarians  of  the  Middle  Ages  felt 
the  contrast  of  light  and  shade !  How  many 
Rembrandts  there  were  among  the  masons  who 
made  these  mysterious  undulations  of  shade  and 
light !  How  true  is  the  saying  that  art  is  only 
an  expression,  that  it  concerns,  above  all,  the  hav- 
ing a  soul,  that  a  temple  is  not  a  mass  of  stones, 
or  a  combination  of  forms,  but  first  and  foremost 
a  religion  which  speaks  to  us !  This  cathedral 
speaks  entirely  to  the  eyes,  from  the  first  look 
to  every  one  after. 

The   houses   in    Europe  do  not  possess   much 


1 66  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

variety, — they  are  uniform  like  regiments  of  sol- 
diers ;  but  the  residences  of  the  rich,  the  hotels  in 
France,  die  Paleste  in  Germany,  Austria,  Hun- 
gary, and  the  palazsi  in  Italy  are  known  to  be 
beautiful  examples  of  the  various  styles  of  archi- 
tecture. 

The  houses  in  America  have  more  variety, 
not  only  in  color,  but  also  in  their  lines,  some 
of  them  being  very  original,  sometimes  even  to 
excess. 

But,  generally  speaking,  America  does  not  pos- 
sess such  artistic  buildings  as  you  would  expect 
to  find  in  a  country  of  such  great  wealth.  The 
residences  of  the  rich  and  the  enormous  office 
buildings  cannot  be  considered  as  artistically 
beautiful ;  they  are  very  imposing  on  account  of 
the  mass  of  stones,  the  number  of  stories,  the 
solidity  of  material,  the  richness  of  the  furnish- 
ing within,  the  luxury  which  prevails  on  every 
side,  but  not  on  account  of  the  purity  of  the  lines, 
or  nobility  of  the  forms. 

What  artistic  horrors  are  some  of  the  sky- 
scrapers, so  called,  recently  erected  in  many  of 
the  large  cities.  But  their  owners  did  not  care 
for  the  beautiful, —  they  spent  great  amounts  of 
money  for  the  interior  luxury  of  these  buildings 


ARCHITECTURE.  1 67 

only  in  order  to  be  able  to  have  more  rent  from 
them. 

I  cannot  pass  without  pointing  to  the  beauty  of 
the  cJidtcau  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  in  Newport, 
and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  state  that  it  is  the  most 
beautiful  mansion  in  America.  When  I  say  "the 
most  beautiful,"  I  do  not  use  the  words  in  the 
American  way,  but  I  speak  in  earnest. 

This  chateau  is  the  purest  Renaissance,  possess- 
ing harmonious  lines  and  balance  of  proportions, 
so  far  as  I  could  see  from  a  very  bad  point  of 
view  and  in  an  almost  momentary  glance,  for  I 
was  chased  out  by  the  watchman,  with  the  excla- 
mation : 

"This  is  private  property,"  as  if,  by  looking  at 
it,  I  had  questioned  the  ownership  of  Mr.  Vander- 
bilt. 

Notwithstanding  this  incident,  rather  unpleasant 
for  me,  and  certainly  shameful  for  Mr.  Vanderbilt, 
as  the  colonel  is  always  responsible  for  the  train- 
ing of  his  soldier,  I  have  preserved  a  most  delight- 
ful vision  of  this  beautiful  building,  and  I  con- 
gratulate the  proprietor  of  it  on  his  exceedingly 
refined  taste  in  having  accepted  such  a  highly 
artistic  plan. 

I   am   anxious  to   see   if    the    surroundings,   or 


1 68  A    PARISIAAr  IN  AMERICA. 

rather  the  proportions  of  the  grounds,  will  corre- 
spond with  the  proportions  of  the  building.  My 
anxiety  is  reasonable  on  account  of  the  fact  that 
in  America  they  spend  millions  for  buildings,  but 
they  are  very  sparing  of  the  land  surrounding 
them  ;  consequently,  one  can  see  in  this  country 
pretty  buildings  which  are  enclosed  in  such  nar- 
row streets,  or  small  grounds,  that  the  beauty  of 
the  building  loses  a  great  deal.  The  best  example 
of  this  fault  is  the  cJidteau  of  William  Vanderbilt. 
This  building,  notwithstanding  its  high  artistic 
merits,  looks  as  "  Apollo  of  Belvedere "  would 
look  in  a  cottage,  because  of  the  small  grounds 
which  are  not  in  proportion  to  the  lines  and  the 
dimensions  of  the  building. 

The  so-called  marble  palace  possesses  artistic 
qualities,  and  is  pure  in  its  lines ;  but  it  looks 
like  a  portal  of  some  Renaissance  cathedral  or 
immense  palazzo,  not  a  palazzo  itself.  When  you 
look  on  it  you  feel  that  there  is  no  conception  of 
totality,  but  a  fragment  from  a  very  grand  whole. 
The  cJiateau  of  Mr.  Goelet  also  is  tasteful,  and 
full  of  beauty  in  lines  and  finishing  ;  no  matter 
if  it  is  a  copy;  it  is  better  to  have  a  good  copy 
than  something  original,  but  without  taste. 

This  is  all  of  the  architectural  riches  of  New- 
port, however,  a  place  where  one  would  expect 


ARCHITECTURE.  169 

marvels  of  art,  because  there  is  so  much  wealth,  — 
bah  !  such  immense  riches.  With  the  exception 
of  these  above-mentioned  buildings,  all  the  so- 
called  villas  are  dreadful.  "  The  choleric  archi- 
tect, dissatisfied  with  the  face  of  nature,  strikes 
here  many  a  dread  blow,  and  produces  an  un- 
healthy eruption  wherever  he  strikes,  and  calls 
the  buildings  he  makes  houses." 

"  How  far  those  abominations  of  modern  Amer- 
ican architecture  of  the  wealthiest  citizens  are 
from  the  beautiful  villas  of  the  Italian  nobility ! 
They  are  built  in  that  depraved  style  which  makes 
this  country  preeminent  in  the  ugliness  of  brick 
and  stone.  There  is  no  possibility  of  criticism 
for  such  monstrosities,  as  there  also  seems  to  be 
no  immediate  prospect  of  reform.  Time,  the  iron- 
fisted  Nihilist,  will  knock  them  all  down  some  day, 
and  bid  mankind  begin  anew." 

Then,  if  we  come  to  any  conclusion,  it  will  be 
this  :  the  American  architects  have  an  insatiable 
desire  to  be  original,  just  as  every  good  American 
wants  to  be  original ;  but  they  have  not  enough 
strength  to  do  it  ;  and,  by  mixing  contradictory 
styles  together,  they  produce  a  horrible  cacophonia 
of  lines  ;  the  truth  of  this  statement  is  seen  in  the 
cities  at  every  step. 


I/O  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  best  buildings  in  this  country  are  more  or 
less  imitations,  or,  rather,  happy  compilations  ;  for 
you  must  not  forget  that  the  beautiful  tower  of 
Trinity  Church  in  Boston  can  also  be  found  in  a 
certain  city  in  Spain  ;  but,  as  I  have  said  already, 
it  is  better  to  imitate,  and  give  to  the  country 
tasteful  buildings,  than  to  try  to  be  original  and 
produce  architectural  horrors  and  barbarous  re- 
sults. 

Those  American  architects,  who  seek  after  origi- 
nality, should  remember  that  we  cannot  ask  of 
them  a  new  architecture,  any  more  than  we  ask 
that  every  generation  should  form  a  new  language. 

Of  course,  the  German  aesthetics  are  wrong  in 
their  views  on  architecture,  in  thinking  that  the 
future  of  architecture  is  only  in  the  new  combina- 
tion of  known  principles. 

Art  is  not  legislature  nor  language  !  Perhaps 
it  would  be  useful  if  all  people  spoke  the  same 
language  and  had  the  same  laws,  but  I  think  that 
variety  in  art  is  its  richness.  I  think  that  archi- 
tecture in  time  will  produce  a  new  style,  just  as  it 
has  in  past  times. 

Already  at  the  Columbian  Fair  in  Chicago,  in 
the  midst  of  the  whiteness  of  this  carton  pate  city, 
where  the  imitation  (pasticcio]  of  Greek  and  Latin 
antiquity  were  mingled  with  those  of  the  Italian 


ARCHITECTURE.  1 ? 1 

Renaissance, —  a  curious  gathering  of  columns, 
porticoes  in  severe  lines  with  rococo  campanulas, 
—  a  fantastic  construction  attracted  us  ;  its  walls 
covered  with  vermilion  appeared  to  the  eye  as  a 
bloody  spot  upon  the  field  of  snow.  It  was  archi- 
tecture of  a  primary  character,  of  studied  rough- 
ness ;  a  cyclopean  and  barbarous  conception,  but 
certainly  not  a  common  one.  One  could  see  in  it 
a  seeking  after  the  strange  and  enormous,  a  dream 
of  new  forms  which  would  harmonize  with  the 
tumultuous  and  brutal  genius  of  the  human  col- 
lectively acting  in  Chicago,  that  monstrous  city, 
forced  as  a  precocious  vegetation  upon  the  marshes 
of  Lake  Michigan.  The  total,  notwithstanding 
its  barocco  polychromia,  had,  even  if  it  had  no 
other  beauties,  a  certain  grandeur  in  its  solid  and 
thick-set  figure. 

This  was  the  Transportation  Building  by  Mr. 
Sullivan. 

Looking  on  the  millions  of  wooden  houses  in 
the  smaller  cities,  towns  and  villages  in  America, 
it  is  not  difficult  to  notice  that  in  their  construc- 
tion there  is  an  absolute  lack  of  individuality.  In 
the  old  houses  of  colonial  times  we  see  a  sim- 
plicity in  lines,  which  is  always  pleasant ;  the 
houses  constructed  in  the  so-called  "  Old  Colo- 
nial "  style  have  artistic  qualities,  and  look  like 


1/2  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

thoroughbreds  among  the  parvenues  of  modern 
construction,  which,  with  their  many  bay-windows, 
piazzas  and  towers,  are  horrible  from  an  artistic 
point  of  view.  yEsthetics  have  nothing  to  do  with 
these  latter ;  they  are  all  constructed  after  the 
same  common  pattern,  which  one  may  call  "gro- 
cer's style  ;  "  here  and  there  we  find  some  houses 
in  "Queen  Anne"  style,  bizarre  in  form  and 
homely  as  to  harmony  of  lines,  but  having  a 
particular  character  and  a  certain  beauty  in  their 
ugliness. 

Still,  all  these  American  towns  and  villages, 
composed  of  houses  which,  freshly  painted,  look 
like  card  houses,  surrounded  by  fresh,  green 
lawns,  with  trees  and  flowers  here  and  there, 
have  an  attractive  and  joyful  appearance,  and 
produce  a  prettier  effect  than  do  the  towns  and 
villages  in  France  and  Germany,  with  their  lines 
of  stone  houses,  crowded,  and  standing  in  the 
narrow,  dusty  streets. 

I  like  those  ancient  New  England  houses  — 
ancient  in  the  sense  of  being  eighty  or  a  hun- 
dred years  old  ;  they  are  built  of  wood,  painted 
a  clean,  clear  white  with  green  blinds,  and  adorned 
along  the  front  with  wooden  pilasters.  These 
pilasters  appear  to  support  a  kind  of  classic  pedi- 
ment, which  is  broken  in  the  middle  by  a  win- 


ARCHITE  C  TURE.  I  /  3 

dow ;  there  is  a  large  white  door,  furnished  with 
a  highly-polished  brass  knocker  ;  behind  the  house 
there  is  the  barn,  the  meadows  and  orchards. 

In  the  last  few  years  the  popular  taste  has 
turned  to  the  Old  Colonial  style,  so  that  almost 
every  private  residence  is  built  according  to  its 
tasteful  principles.  It  is  a  pity  only  that  those 
gems  of  architectural  beauty  are  not  constructed 
of  more  solid  material,  so  as  to  testify  before 
future  generations  about  the  good  taste  of  their 
owners. 


CHAPTER    X. 

LITERATURE. 

T  T  7"HY  is  it  that  this  nation,  which  is  so  great 
*  »  in  other  things,  has  lately  grown  slow  in 
great  spiritual  development  ? 

I  cannot  explain  these  things  ;  they  are  race 
questions,  problems.  I  only  know  that  the  tri- 
umvirate of  Bryant,  Longfellow  and  Whittier  no 
longer  exist,  and  that  those  who  have  succeeded 
them  cannot  replace  them. 

Not  long  ago  the  editor  of  a  New  York  maga- 
zine wrote  to  a  well  -  known  poet  :  "  Won't  you 
please  drop  a  poem  in  our  slot,  and  draw  out  as 
much  money  as  you  want  for  it  ?  " 

The  poet  sent  down  a  dozen  lines,  with  the 
price  written  on  the  margin  — "  Fifty  Dollars." 
The  verses  were  good,  of  course,  but  there  was 
nothing  at  all  remarkable  about  them. 

Mrs.   Ella  Wheeler  Wilcox   might   have  devel- 

174 


LITER  A  TURE.  1 7  5 

oped  into  a  poetess.  I  see  some  real  talent  in 
poetry  of  Miss  Edith  Thomas,  Miss  Louise  Imo- 
gen Guiney,  and  James  Jeffrey  Roche. 

The  rest,  I  fear,  are  mere  poetasters,  except 
Eugene  Field,  the  most  pleasant,  healthy,  if  not 
foremost  humorist  of  the  day.  I  would  not  ex- 
change a  wilderness  of  Bill  Nyes  for  one  Eugene 
Field. 

Of  course,  I  must  remember  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes,  the  last  remnant  of  a  glorious  past. 

Edmund  C.  Stedman  writes  far  too  little,  as  a 
great  deal  of  his  time  is  taken  by  the  New  York 
Stock  Exchange,  of  which  he  is  a  member. 

Nym  Crynkle  might  have  been  known  as  a 
great  critic  if  he  had  chosen  to  become  one,  and 
not  exposed  himself  to  the  degrading  influence  of 
newspaper  scribbling. 

And  now,  Melpomene  and  Thalia,  let  flow 
your  tears  !  For  at  each  new  piece  that  issues 
from  the  pen  of  Bronson  Howard,  Thomas, 
Belasco,  Merrington,  and  others,  I  ask  myself, 
astonished  and  helpless,  "  How  is  it  they  have  so 
much  success  ?" 

I  would  recommend  Clyde  Fitch,  if  I  could 
only  guarantee  him  to  be  original. 

Bret  Harte,  the  greatest  American  writer  of 
short  stories,  is  by  no  means  so  popular  with  the 


1/6  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

-general  public  as  he  once  was.  A  new  story  by 
him  is  not  a  literary  event,  and  young  readers  are 
apt  to  read  his  old  ones,  wondering  wherein  lies 
the  marvellous  merit. 

Lately,  it  is  said,  Bret  Harte  wrote  a  poem,  and 
here  is  his  most  famous  London  joke  about  it : 

Dressing  himself  in  the  threadbare,  frayed, 
fringed,  and  faded  garments,  which  would,  quite 
likely,  be  worn  by  a  cross  between  a  Bohemian 
journalist  and  a  tramp,  Bret  Harte  visited  the 
office  of  Labouchere's  Truth,  and  asked  to  see  the 
eminent  journalist.  He  was  ushered  into  the  holy 
of  holies,  the  inner  office  of  the  newspaporial 
M.  P.,  told  him  that  he  had  a  poem  which  he 
would  be  pleased  to  sell,  and  asked  Mr.  Labouchere 
to  look  it  over.  The  famous  lance -hurler  of  the 
London  press  at  first  refused  to  glance  on  the  offer- 
ing, but,  upon  Mr.  Harte's  earnestly  pleading  his 
immediate  need  of  money,  Mr.  Labouchere  hastily 
examined  the  production.  Then  he  returned  it, 
with  the  remark : 

"I  cannot  use  this  trash." 

"  But,  my  God ! "  exclaimed  Harte,  "  I  am 
starving !  " 

"What  do  you  want  for  it?"  inquired  Labou- 
chere. 

"Is  it  worth  a  pound?"  said   Harte,   with  an 


LITER  A  TURE.  1 77 

expression  indicating  that  his  heart  was  crawling 
up  in  the  vicinity  of  his  larynx. 

"Want  a  pound!  It  is  not  worth  the  paper  it 
is  written  on  !  "  raged  Labouchere.  "  If  you  want 
charity,  I  can  give  you  a  few  shillings,  but  it  would 
only  be  accompanied  by  advice  to  the  effect  that 
a  strong,  able-bodied  man  like  you  can  make  more 
money,  and  give  less  cause  for  offence,  by  seeking 
employment  at  hop-picking,  or  shipping  before  the 
mast.  Instead  of  attempting  to  worm  your  way 
into  journalism,  why  did  not  you  join  the  expedi- 
tion for  the  relief  of  General  Gordon  ?  Who  are 
you,  anyway  ?" 

"  Bret  Harte,"  was  the  answer,  as  the  major 
portion  of  his  disguise  was  removed,  and  the  aston- 
ished Labouchere  beheld  a  club  companion,  whom 
he  had  known  for  years. 

The  poem,  however,  will  soon  be  published  to 
the  world,  and  it  is  one  of  Harte's  greatest  efforts. 
But  its  introduction  to  the  great  world  will  not  be 
through  the  columns  of  the  London  Truth. 

Julian  Hawthorne,  Fawcett,  and  Cable,  are 
clever  novelists,  who  have  done  good  work,  but 
who  now  invariably  repeat  themselves. 

Edgar  Saltus,  the  American  Theophile  Gautier, 
dresses  the  German  ideas  of  Schopenhauer  in  a 


1/8  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

decidedly  French  form,  —  a  very  strange,  and 
rather  unhappy,  combination. 

Marion  Crawford  is  an  elegant  American  wri- 
ter, as  to  form,  language,  subjects,  and  high-  sen- 
timents,—  is  always  worth  reading.  I  study  his 
works  with  the  greatest  pleasure,  and  not  with  the 
least  profit,  on  account  of  his  deep  psychological 
reflections.  No  sooner  does  Crawford  finish  one 
book  than  he  sits  down  to  write  another,  but  the 
critic  who  says  that  it  is  a  far  cry  from  "Mr. 
Isaacs,"  and  "  A  Roman  Singer,"  to  "  Katherine 
Lauderdale,"  is  not  right,  as  Marion  Crawford  is 
always  highly  artistic,  and  even  his  poorest  are 
much  better  than  the  production  of  some  other 
popular  writers,  at  their  best. 

A  great  many  people  do  not  see  the  wit  and 
delightful  foolery  of  Frank  R.  Stockton ;  and  so 
he  has  not  half  the  reputation  that  he  deserves. 

Bellamy  wrote  an  excellent  novel  before  he 
became  a  Nationalist. 

We  must  hope  that  William  A.  Leahy's  talent 
will  take  more  literary  direction  than  writing 
detective  novels. 

Mary  Wilkins's  short  stories  are  charming,  orig- 
inal, full  of  the  fine  and  delicate  feminine  feeling 
so  seldom  found  among  the  writers  of  the  fair  sex. 
Her  stories  are  dramatic,  but  they  possess,  also, 


LITER  A  TURE.  1 79 

charming  idyllic  qualities.  Her  last  novel,  "  Pem- 
broke," places  her  among  the  famous  novelists 
of  our  day.  The  simplicity,  purity,  realism,  and 
strength  of  her  stories  make  them  second  to  little 
that  has  been  produced  in  America. 

Miss  Jewett's  works  are  also  in  the  way  of 
idyllic  pictures.  Her  last  story,  "  Native  of 
Winby,"  is  full  of  lovely  rural  scenes. 

Magaret  Deland,  Keenan,  Watson  Howe,  and 
Amelie  Rives,  who  endeavors  to  be  erotic,  may 
yet  become  novelists. 

The  novels  of  E.  P.  Roe  sell  well,  not  because 
of  their  literary  excellence,  but  because  of  the 
preaching  in  them,  which  is  proper  in  church,  but 
out  of  place  in  novels. 

I  should  mention  also  General  Wallace,  Frances 
Burnett,  and  others. 

The  best  proof  of  my  statement  concerning 
the  break  in  the  spiritual  development  of  the 
Americans  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  delicate 
and  refined  works  of  Henry  James  are  not  appre- 
ciated and  are  not  understood,  in  this  country, 
and  he  has  gone  over  to  Europe  permanently. 
The  novels  of  Henry  James  are  such  in  character 
that  they  are  to  be  appreciated  only  by  a  trained 
literary  taste.  His  incidents  are  the  turning- 
points  in  the  lives  of  people  of  the  highest  civiliza- 


ISO  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

tion.  He  explains  nothing.  He  puts  a  drama  of 
life  before  your  eyes,  and,  if  you  do  not  under- 
stand, you  see  James  sitting  by  indifferent.  The 
fault  is  with  you. 

Howells,  after  gaining  a  reputation,  has  suc- 
ceeded in  doing  more  mischief  than  the  most 
imaginative  of  romance  writers.  He  sets  before 
us  very  often,  under  the  name  of  realism,  pictures 
which  are  in  every  way  misleading,  just  exactly  as 
our  Zola  does. 

A  New  Yorker,  coming  up  in  the  elevated  train 
the  other  day,  saw  a  young  woman, —  a  fashionably 
dressed  young  woman,  with  the  air  and  manner 
of  the  society  girl, —  reading  "  Main  Travelled 
Roads,"  by  Hamlin  Garland ;  and  he  has  been 
going  about  lecturing  upon  the  text  ever  since. 
He  does  not  wonder  that  the  most  fashionable 
gathering-place  in  town  was  chosen  as  the  quarters 
of  the  Woman  Suffragists,  when  such  girls  are 
reading  Hamlin  Garland's  stories. 

Garland  is  a  realist  who  glosses  nothing.  He 
preserves  the  stern,  bitter,  sordid  facts  of  life.  It 
is  not  a  case  of  "  Be  good  and  you  will  be  happy." 
We  are  not  given  the  picturesque  half-life,  which 
hides  the  squalor  and  brings  out  the  beauties  of 
resignation. 


LITER  A  TURE.  1 8  I 

He  turns  on  the  full  glow  of  day,  and  we  see 
all  the  mean  and  petty  details,  all  the  hard  facts 
to  which  we  shut  our  eyes,  when  they  are  in  the 
lives  of  other  people. 

The  pure,  good-natured,  American  humor,  which 
made  Mark  Twain  famous,  has  mingled,  these 
latter  years,  with  the  bitter  stream  of  prejudice. 
He  is  not  so  joyous  as  he  once  was,  nor  so» light- 
hearted. 

We  forgive  him,  but  we  turn  about  to  look  for 
the  new  man  who  has  the  qualities  Mr.  Clemens 
lacks. 

When  we  laugh  we  want  to  laugh  with  the 
world,  not  at  it. 

Finally,  Eggleston,  Hoyt,  and  dramatists  of  the 
"Old  Homestead"  type,  are  realists,  who  are, 
undoubtedly,  the  forerunners  of  the  great  novel 
and  the  great  drama  which  America  needs. 

The  list  is  short,  but  I  fear  it  is  fairly  complete. 
Though  there  are  many  figures,  they  are  mostly 
zeroes. 

As  I  said  once  to  a  certain  witty  critic  : 

"I  am  so  ashamed  that  I  have  not  read  the  last 
new  novel,"  naming  it. 

"Well,"  said  he,  "you  will  be  more  ashamed  of 
yourself  when  you  have  read  it." 

With  this  reply  one  must  agree  when  he  con- 


l82  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

siders  the  majority  of  the  novels  which  are  pub- 
lished at  the  present  time. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  give  an  example  of  an 
absent  quantity.  Something  is  wanting  yet  in 
American  story-tellers — something  of  charm, 
something  of  impulse,  something  of  humor.  Art 
is  a  legerdemain,  which  must  first  have  a  real 
rabbit  in  the  box,  then  make  us  not  see  it,  then 
see  it  again.  Presto,  change!  "We  must  culti- 
vate the  imagination  —  the  creative  imagination. 
Our  practical  life  stills  it."  The  noise  of  living 
drowns  the  celestial  harmonies.  He  who  owns  the 
wings  of  imagination  shudders  at  no  height ;  he  is 
above  fate  and  chance.  His  power  of  vision  makes 
him  greater  still ;  he  sees  and  illuminates  every- 
day life  and  common  things.  I  dislike  the  realistic 
school  in  literature,  particularly  for  Americans. 
We  need  a  higher  life.  We  should  read  that  start- 
ling saying  of  the  psalmist,  "Ye  shall  be  gods! " 

And  the  student  should  search  for  words  which 
are  ideas.  He  must  find  that  inevitable  word  or 
phrase  which  shall  become  classical  in  a  moment. 
The  imagination  begets  original  diction,  sugges- 
tive epithets,  verbs  implying  extended  scenes  and 
events,  phrases  which  are  a  delight,  and  which,  as 
we  say,  speak  volumes, —  single  notes  which  es- 
tablish the  dominant  tone. 


LITER  A  TURE.  1 8  3 

The  chief  vice  of  a  certain  class  of  writers  is 
their  inability  to  finish  their  wcrk.  They  start 
with  a  fine,  showy  Aladdin's  palace,  and  then 
seem  to  return  to  earth  before  it  is  finished. 
Others  have  facility ;  others,  lacking  talent  and 
imagination,  offer  us  a  patchwork  bedquilt  made 
up  of  other  peoples'  left-off  silks. 

And  then  American  writers  are  suffocated 
within  the  narrow  limits  which  confine  them, 
the  necessity  of  pleasing  the  women  who  read, 
and  recently  their  protestations  against  restric- 
tions have  become  more  urgent. 

"Since  the  days  of  the  author  of  'Tom 
Jones,'"  wrote  Thackeray,  "not  one  novelist  in 
our  country  has  painted  humanity  as  it  is.  We 
must  dress  it  in  a  certain  way,  give  it  the  attitude 
and  language  of  convention.  Our  readers,  and 
especially  our  women  readers,  do  not  admit  the 
natural  in  art." 

For  thirty  years  American  writers  have  re- 
peated the  complaint  of  Thackeray.  They  accuse 
the  young  girl,  this  idol  to  which  one  sacrifices 
everything,  this  terror  of  editors  who  bend  before 
her,  slaves  of  her  taste  and  preferences. 

Rider  Haggard  and  Ouida,  in  England,  Boy- 
sen,  Julian  Hawthorne,  Lathrop,  and  even  Henry 


184  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

James,  in  the  United  States,  demand  release  from 
this  "insupportable  tyranny." 

More  imperious  still  is  Edgar  Fawcett,  who 
affirms  that  "bashfulness  is  a  question  of  latitude 
and  longitude."  Others,  too,  believe  that  the 
writer  should  not  accept  without  appeal  "  the 
judgment  of  young  girls  as  to  the  value  of  lit- 
erary work." 

The  women  authors  go  farther  in  their  asser- 
tions : 

"  Either  the  young  girl  or  the  writer  ought  to 
be  sacrificed,"  writes  Mrs.  Franklin  Atherton. 
"  If  an  author  writes  about  the  world  as  he 
sees  it,  they  accuse  him  of  corrupting  innocence ; 
if  he  presents  things  in  such  a  way  only  as  will 
please  his  readers,  he  sacrifices  the  truth.  Cer- 
tainly the  young  girl  in  America  is  a  positive 
quantity,  and  is  not  to  be  ignored  by  writers  ;  but 
it  is  the  duty  of  her  mother  and  not  of  the  novel- 
ist to  guide  her.  An  author  must  place  before 
his  readers  the  truth,  the  whole  truth  ;  it  is  for 
him  to  tell  it  with  art  and  without  shocking  one's 
sense  of  decency." 

"  Free  us  once  for  all  from  the  thraldom  of  the 
young  girl,"  are  the  blunt  words  of  Julian  Haw- 
thorne, "  or  let  her  hear  and  understand  the  truth. 
Her  so-called  champions  affirm  that  she  will  not 


LITERATURE.  185 

read  us,  but  I  have  an  idea  that  she  will  read 
us  just  the  same,  and  that  she  will  be  none  the 
worse." 

Nothwithstanding  all  this,  I  wrote  this  book  for 
the  American  woman,  and  I  gave  my  reasons  for 
it  in  the  beginning. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

MUSIC. 

"  \  T  7HAT  do  you  think  of  American  music?" 
*  *  some  one  asked  Paderewski. 

"  It  is  the  music  of  the  future,  but  not  of  the 
past  or  the  present." 

The  fact  is,  that  America  is  the  most  musical 
country  in  the  world  in  this  sense,  that  there  is 
no  country  where  there  are  so  many  pianos  and 
players  on  them,  and  so  many  other  instruments, 
especially  banjos. 

Ah  !  there  are  millions  of  banjos,  and  people 
think  so  much  of  them  that  they  have  attempted 
several  times  to  convince  me  that  the  banjo  is  the 
instrument. 

So  far  as  my  knowledge  of  the  musical  disposi- 
tions of  different  peoples  goes,  I  know  that  the 
banjo  is  the  nigger's  instrument ;  it  is  very  easy, 
and,  as  those  poor  darkies  have  but  very  little 
brain,  it  is  an  excellent  instrument  to  satisfy  their 
artistic  tastes  and  musical  tendencies. 

Those  black  beings  are  very  fond  of  music,  and 


MUSIC.  187 

they  have  their  original  songs,  with  original  mo- 
tives, which  one  cannot  find  among  the  Ameri- 
cans ;  the  minstrel  show  can  be  considered  as 
the  nigger's  national  opera,  yet  I  do  not  know 
why  it  is  so  much  appreciated  by  the  American 
masses.  Honestly  speaking,  such  taste  is  simply 
dreadful. 

In  the  north  of  Europe  we  find  those  pretty 
melodies  of  tang.  France  and  Germany  abound 
in  different  national  motives.  The  Hungarians 
have  their  national  cJiardasJi,  so  masterfully  inter- 
preted by  Liszt, — and  introduced  this  season  as  a 
fashionable  dance  in  Newport  by  the  Hungarian 
nobleman,  Count  Zichy.  The  Italians  have  the 
barcarolle.  The  Poles  their  mazurk,  the  original 
tempo  of  which  gives  so  much  character  to 
Chopin's  compositions.  The  Russians  have  many 
charming  motives  which  shine  as  a  gold  thread  in 
the  works  of  Tchikovsky.  The  English  ballads, 
sung  by  the  country  people,  did  not  come  to  this 
country  with  immigrants,  so  the  Americans  have 
nothing  in  the  way  of  national  motives. 

Going  back  to  the  early  days  of  the  colonies,  we 
find  musical  culture  at  a  low  ebb.  Men's  thoughts 
were  turned  to  the  hard  necessities  of  pioneer 

life. 


1 88  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  Puritans,  in  their  hatred  of  secular  music, 
had  abolished  church  choirs  and  destroyed  organs. 
Neverthess,  their  frugal  psalm  tunes  were  brought 
to  this  country,  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  the 
first  development  of  musical  culture  can  be  traced 
to  this  psalmody,  of  whose  contents,  "  York," 
"Martyrs,"  "Westminster,"  and  "Windsor,"  were 
conspicuous  examples. 

The  fact  that  those  psalm  tunes  were,  as  a  rule, 
atrociously  sung,  and  that,  as  new  melodies  were 
prohibited,  the  old  ones  became  exceedingly  tire- 
some, may  have  driven  people  of  sensitive  ears 
and  refined  tastes  to  seek  something  more  gratify- 
ing. Old  Salem  long  ago  renounced  the  anti- 
quated Billings  School  of  Music,  as  it  turned  from 
the  gloomy  shadow  of  Witch  Hill. 

A  glance  over  the  musical  history  of  the  last 
century  in  America  shows  a  steady  though  gradual 
increase  in  the  number  of  vocal  and  instrumental 
societies,  and  in  their  musical  strength,  while  the 
character  of  the  compositions  rendered  has  corre- 
spondingly improved. 

Failures  have  been  many.  At  times  they  have 
happened  through  the  inefficiency  of  the  organiza- 
tion, but  more  often  by  reason  of  the  indifference 
of  the  public,  who  preferred  the  attractions  of 


MUSIC.  1 89 

negro  minstrelsy  to  oratorio  or  anything  approach- 
ing the  classical  in  music. 

It  is  a  strange  thing  that,  notwithstanding  this 
musical  development,  the  members  of  the  Boston 
Symphony  Orchestra  are  almost  all  foreigners, 
and  the  leader  is  a  foreigner ;  in  America  the 
majority  of  the  teachers  are  foreigners,  and  the 
New  York  Conservatory  of  Music  was  obliged  to 
engage  Antonin  Dvorak,  the  Tshecks's  greatest 
composer. 

Though  benign  fortune  has  not  yet  given  to 
America  a  Gounod,  a  Beethoven,  a  Verdi,  or  a 
Rubinstein,  the  musical  firmament  of  this  coun- 
try is  by  no  means  wholly  dark.  It  has  its  stars 
that  presage  the  dawning  of  a  day  when  some  sun- 
like  music  maker  shall  brighten  the  world  with 
the  glory  of  his  genius. 

Perhaps,  even  now,  he  is  moaning  over  his 
favourite  composition,  returned  with  a  printed 
note  of  regret  by  some  publisher  whose  shelves 
groan  with  the  cacophonous  success  of  certain 
popular  writers  of  the  day,  in  the  style  of  "  Annie 
Rooney,"  or  the  stupid  "Ta  Ra  Ra  Boom." 

Perhaps  he  is  only  in  the  first  stages  of  thor- 
ough-bass, and  declaring,  with  a  proud  toss  of  his 
head,  that  he  will  not  fetter  his  muse  with  all  the 


A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

formalities  Richter  may  dictate.  Nay,  he  may 
be  just  composing  infantile  nocturnes  in  a  cradle, 
which  his  father  cannot  appreciate,  and  which  the 
neighbours  do  not  love. 

This  supposition  is  based  on  those  facts,  that 
already  American  singers  like  Van  Zandt  and 
Eames  are  appreciated  in  the  musical  world,  and 
that  "  Robin  Hood,"  by  Reginald  DeKoven,  was 
played  in  London,  the  first  opera  by  an  American 
composer  ever  produced  in  England. 

Mr.  Krohbiel,  the  critic,  says  that  John  Knowles 
Paine  stands  as  a  meteor  and  exemplar  to  the 
eager  and  talented  composers  of  to-day  as  the 
foremost  American  composer. 

Church  music  in  America  owes  a  great  debt  to 
Dudley  Buck. 

Dinah  Mulock  Craik  said  that,  of  all  the  many 
settings  her  poem,  "Tender  and  True,"  had  re- 
ceived, Marston's  was  the  only  one  that  completely 
satisfied  her. 

The  compositions  of  Arthur  Foote  are  of  great 
value ;  and  America's  slender  contribution  to  or- 
chestral composition  have  received  valuable  addi- 
tions from  the  works  of  the  prolific  composer, 
George  W.  Chadwick. 

George  Templeton   Strong  is  a  composer  who 


MUSIC.  19! 

has,  perhaps,  received  more  glory  abroad  than 
at  home. 

Harry  Rove  Shelley  is  a  writer  of  some  of  the 
most  popular  songs  ever  published. 

Frank  Van  der  Stucken  is  remarkable,  not 
only  for  his  own  work,  but  for  the  interest  he 
has  aroused  through  the  world  in  American  com- 
positions. 

MacDowell's  songs  and  piano  pieces  are  bold 
and  original. 

The  works  of  Ethelbert  Nevin  have  the  good 
fortune  to  win  the  favour  of  both  critical  and 
popular  audiences.  A  writer  of  the  same  class  is 
Gerrit  Smith.  There  is  some  worth  in  the  music 
of  Arthur  Bird  and  James  H.  Rogers. 

C.  B.  Hawley  has  written  several  songs,  while 
Wilson  G.  Smith  is  the  American  ballad  writer. 
Horatio  W.  Parker  has  won  a  position  among 
American  composers  by  a  number  of  orchestral 
works. 

I  must  mention  the  names  of  such  composers 
as  P.  A.  Schmecker,  Miss  Fanny  Spencer,  H.  H. 
A.  Beach,  Jules  Jordan,  John  Hyatt  Brewer,  F. 
G.  Dossert,  E.  Phelps,  C.  Whitney  Coombs,  W. 
H.  Neidlinger,  O.  B.  Boise,  Clayton  Johns,  and 
H.  H.  Huss. 

Just  as  America  has  not  yet  produced  a  Meyer- 


1 92  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

beer,  so  she  has  not  found  her  Offenbach.  But, 
withal,  the  past  few  years  have  given  a  few  pretty 
comic  operas. 

The  composer  of  the  successful  "  Robber  of 
the  Rhine  "  is  Charles  Puerner. 

A  very  ambitious  composer  is  William  Furst. 

Gustave  Kerker  wrote  "The  Pearl  of  Pekin." 

Wilson  Morse  is  the  composer  of  those  two  suc- 
cessful comic  operas,  "Wang"  and  "Panjandrum." 

It  is  a  strange  thing  to  observe  that  such  an 
energetic,  bold,  and  home -changing  race  as  the 
Americans  have  such  a  sad  and  melancholy 
national  song  as  "  Home,  Sweet  Home,"  which 
brought  to  John  Howard  Payne  both  fame  and 
considerable  fortune. 

But  this  song,  although  it  is  one  of  the  treas- 
ures of  the  English  language,  and  is  a  very 
pleasing  piece  of  music,  never  excites  so  much 
enthusiasm  as  the  merry  and  lively  "Yankee 
Doodle."  This  fact  has  been  noticed,  not  by  me 
only,  but  by  many  European  travellers.  This  is 
what  the  Comte  d'Haussonville,  describing  a  con- 
cert in  Baltimore,  says  about  it  : 

"The  band  plays  a  national  American  air,  'Hail 
Columbia,'  which  was,  during  the  War  of  Seces- 
sion, an  air  of  the  Federal  Government.  Re- 


MUSIC.  193 

served  and  cold  applause ;  the  people  are  not 
moved  by  it. 

"  Then  they  play  briskly  a  piece  which  was  not 
on  the  programme,  and  which,  they  whispered  to 
me,  was  an  air  adopted  by  the  army  of  the  South, 
'Maryland,  My  Maryland.'  It  is  a  pretty  melody, 
of  German  origin,  I  think,  with  slow  and  sad 
movement,  which  is  striking  as  the  national  hymn 
of  a  conquered  people.  This  time  there  is  a 
division  ;  a  part  of  the  crowd  applauds  with  en- 
thusiasm, the  other  remains  cold,  and  I  even  see 
some  frowning  faces. 

"Then,  at  once,  the  band  attacks  with  vigour 
and  life  the  true  American  air,  at  least,  a  very 
popular  air,  one  dating  from  the  War  for  Indepen- 
dence, 'Yankee  Doodle.'  This  time  no  division; 
everybody  applauded  and  cried  encore." 

This  old  air  unites  all  national  sentiments,  and 
expresses  better  the  optimistical  and  healthy 
disposition  of  the  great  American  fatherland 
far  better  than  "The  Star- Spangled  Banner." 


CHAPTER    XII. 

PROTESTANTISM. 

are  happy  in  America,  you  believe," 
said  Francois  Coppee  to  an  American  re- 
porter, "believing,  you  act  after  Christian  ideas. 
The  worst  thing  I  know  about  you  is  that  you 
have  too  many  sects." 

"  But  we  have  a  movement  for  Christian  union, 
which  increases." 

"  Good !  And  if  that  succeeds,  and  you  can 
keep  your  faith,  you  will  have  the  force  to  make 
what  you  will  of  society." 

Francois  Coppee  was  never  in  America,  but,  by 
the  strength  of  his  poetical  intuition,  he  sees 
farther  than  some  people  with  their  eyes,  and  he 
comprehends  a  great  many  qualities  and  virtues 
among  Americans,  which  one  can  consider  as  the 
result  of  their  faith,  as  the  consequence  of  a  form 
of  a  religion,  which  is  not  lost  in  the  searching 
after  mysteries,  but  preaching  that  the  "  noblest 
gesture  that  there  is,  is  to  open  wide  the  hand." 

"  Give  without  hoping  for  return ; 
Give  without  knowing  who  receives." 

194 


PROTESTANTISM.  195 

"  L1  amour  ne  connait  pas  de  limit es ;  nous  ne 
pouvons  refaire  les  miracles  du  Christ.  .  .  .  Mais  ily 
a  d'autres  miracles,  bien  plus  utiles  pour  nous,  que 
tous  nous  pouvons  accomplir  au  cours  de  la  vie,  ce 
sont  les  miracles  de  la  cJiarite,  de  la  pitie,  de 
r  amour  pour  aiitrui" 

And  not  only  preaching  but  also  practising 
"  kindness,  more  kindness,  always  kindness." 

In  fact,  human  feeling  is  more  developed  among 
Americans  than  among  Europeans.  Is  this  due 
to  a  higher  degree  of  civilization  ?  I  do  not 
think  so,  because  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  in 
Europe  civilization  is  higher,  if  we  do  not  con- 
sider the  use  of  the  telephone  and  electricity  as 
the  highest  expression  of  civilization. 

Is  it  due  to  the  virtue  of  primitive  nations  ?  I 
do  not  believe  it,  for,  in  this  country,  Protestants 
and  Catholics  are,  one  can  say,  of  the  same  age. 
But  as  there  is  more  kindness  among  Protestants, 
the  conclusion  is  a  very  clear  one  :  the  virtues 
seen  among  Protestants  must  be  the  results  of 
their  religion,  the  dowry  of  their  faith,  —  less 
mystic,  less  flying  to  the  sky,  but  more  practical, 
more  human.  They  are  not  satisfied  with  the 
morals  of  a  two-cent  catechism,  but  they  ask,  "  Is 


196  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

there  anything  more  noble  than  the  open  hand  ? " 
They  teach  :  "  Do  the  greatest  possible  good  to 
the  greatest  possible  number;"  "Do  the  great- 
est possible  good  to  your  body,  to  your  soul,  to 
your  fellow  men."  I  do  not  intend  to  write  an 
essay  on  two  religions,  but  I  will  quote  here  the 
truthful  exclamation  of  Comte  de  Chateaubriand  : 
"  Catholicism  gives  us  magnificent  cathedrals ; 
Protestantism  factories  and  prosperity  of  the 
masses,  —  you  can  choose  which  you  please." 

Though  I  admire  so  much  the  masterpieces  of 
art  inspired  by  the  warm  Catholic  faith,  I  do  not 
hesitate  to  follow  the  logic  of  the  author  of  "  Ori- 
gincs  de  la  France  Comtcmporaine"  H.  Taine,  who 
prefers  Protestantism  to  Catholicism  on  account 
of  the  respect  of  the  individual  man,  rather  than 
the  author  of  "  Genie  du  Christianism"  in  which 
he  showed  the  beauty  of  Catholicism  by  poetic 
descriptions  of  its  phases. 

Protestantism  not  only  gives  more  satisfaction 
to  the  poetic  conception  of  life,  but  it  helps  also 
to  chain  the  natural  tendencies  of  man,  which  are 
towards  brutality  and  egotism. 

"Catholicism  is  faulty  on  account  of  its  formid- 
able administration,  and  because  it  does  not  leave 
enough  liberty  to  the  free  interpretation  of  the 
universe  by  the  individual." 


PROTESTANTISM.  197 

Such  is  the  opinion  also  of  such  French  modern 
authors  as  Paul  Bourget,  Vogue,  and  many  other 
French  thinkers  in  the  "  College  de  France"  in  the 
"  Sorbonne  "  and  in  the  "  Institut" 

There  is  a  beauty  in  Catholicism,  but  beauty  is 
not  as  valuable  as  virtue.  Between  Antinous  and 
Saint  Vincent  de  Paul  there  is  no  comparison. 

The  importance  of  the  influence  of  Protestant- 
ism in  every-day  life,  I  understand  only  as  I  linger 
in  this  country,  and  think  of  the  causes  of  the 
development  of  the  individuality  of  the  American 
citizen.  Among  many  other  factors  I  found  this 
powerful  one,  the  religion.  In  fact,  Protestantism 
commences  its  work  with  the  child  in  Sunday 
school,  in  Sunday  school  concerts,  in  church  en- 
tertainments, and  all  sorts  of  things  favourable 
to  the  development  of  individuality.  Protestant- 
ism does  not  bend  those  young  branches  under 
the  power  of  authority,  but  develops  their  qualities 
and  teaches  them  to  practise  kindness. 

It  is  the  same  in  after  years.  Protestantism 
emphasizes  the  worth  of  good  deeds,  insists  upon 
this  point,  giving  you  freedom  in  all  respects.  "  If 
any  man  will  do  His  will,"-— this  is  not  the  will 
of  the  future  tense,  not  a  redundant  word,  but  the 
very  kernel  and  core  of  the  whole  teaching.  "The 


198  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

real  force  of  the  Greek  is,  if  any  one  is  willing 
and  earnestly  desirous,  or  has  a  mind,  a  sincere 
purpose  to  do  God's  will,  he  hereby  puts  himself 
in  the  sure  way  to  gain  light,  and  to  know  Christ's 
teaching,"  said  Rev.  Walter  Barton,  minister  of 
the  Congregational  Church,  which  is  to  be  consid- 
ered as  the  national  American  Church. 

What  can  be  greater  and  give  more  impulse 
toward  individuality  ? 

And  now  take  into  consideration  the  large- 
heartedness  of  Phillips  Brooks,  who  preached  a 
universal  religion,  a  religion  of  deeds,  of  kindness, 
of  humanity,  not  restrained  by  any  dogma  or  by 
any  sect,  but  as  large  as  the  universe,  as  human 
as  can  be,  —  as  only  human  feeling  is  the  best  part 
of  us,  the  best  religion,  said  our  great  orator, 
Comte  de  Mirabeau. 

In  my  judgment,  Christian  ethics,  not  bristled 
up  with  mysteries  and  the  infallibilities  of  dogmas, 
but  applied  to  life,  personified  in  kindness,  "  more 
kindness,  always  kindness,"  is  the  most  beautiful 
religion  on  earth,  the  purest,  the  noblest,  and  it  is 
the  very  thing  which  will  save  us  from  destruc- 
tion. 

The  fact  that  one  sees  but  seldom  a  beggar  in 
Protestant  countries,  and  especially  in  America, 
is  to  be  attributed,  not  wholly  to  the  severe  law 


PRO  TESTANTISM.  1 99 

against  begging,  nor  to  the  fact  that  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  is  very  proud,  but  to  the  actions  of 
Protestants,  who  will  not  permit  their  fellow  men 
to  suffer  in  time  of  need. 

We  all  know  how  hard  has  been  the  year  1894, 
how  much  misery  there  has  been  all  over  the 
country  ;  but  in  the  small  cities,  towns  and  vil- 
lages, where  almost  everybody  belongs  to  some 
congregation,  the  suffering  was  not  so  great, 
because  the  parishioners  made  provision  for  those 
members  who  were  needy. 

The  statement  made  by  Miss  Willard  when 
she  returned  from  England,  that  she  gives  to  the 
Americans  the  precedence  in  a  fraternal  feeling 
for  each  other,  a  more  brotherly  and  sisterly 
love,  I  can  attribute  only  to  the  warmer  faith  of 
Americans. 

Has  America  ever  contributed  any  great  princi- 
ple to  the  theology  of  the  world  ? 

Yes,  indeed.  First  of  all,  it  has  succeeded  in 
successfully  separating  the  Church  from  the  State. 
In  America,  alone,  of  all  the  countries  of  the 
world,  religion  is  entirely  free  from  State  control 
and  support.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the 
Church  and  religion  have  been  strengthened  by 
this  separation. 


2OO  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Growing  out  of  this  has  come  the  gradual  de- 
velopment of  the  conception  in  the  popular  mind 
of  the  separation  of  religion  from  ecclesiasticism,  a 
realization  of  the  truth  that  the  spirit  of  religion 
is  not  only  more  important  than  any  of  its  forms, 
but  is  not  wholly  dependent  upon  them. 

They  began  with  that,  and  from  it  has  grown 
up  the  conception  of  a  possibility  of  a  church 
union,  based,  not  upon  the  incorporation  of  all 
churches  in  one,  but  on  a  perception  of  a  deeper 
spiritual  life  in  which  all  Christian  churches  are 
essentially  as  one. 

Such  a  gathering  as  the  Parliament  of  Religions 
could  not  have  been  held, —  and,  in  my  judgment, 
such  a  proposal  as  that  of  the  Episcopalian 
Church  for  church  unity  could  not  have  been 
made,  —  but  for  the  influence  of  American  relig- 
ious ideas  and  inspirations. 

In  addition  to  these  achievements,  there  have 
been,  of  course,  notable  contributions,  both  to 
theological  thought  and  to  religious  life,  by  Ameri- 
can churches  and  thinkers.  For  instance,  there 
is  New  England  Puritanism,  and,  growing  out  of 
it,  New  England  Unitarianism  ;  then  there  comes 
American  Methodism,  and  the  movement  popu- 
larly known  as  Campbellism.  The  latter  is  more 
important  than  most  of  us  realize.  It  stands 


PRO  TES  TANTISM.  2O I 

the  best  of  liberalism  and  breadth  in  many  West- 
ern communities.  The  first  of  these  movements 
is  in  the  direction  of  religious  activity,  and  the 
other  is  in  the  direction  of  religious  simplicity  and 
liberty. 

Then, —  and  what  could  be  more  important  ?  — 
comes  the  American  Sunday  school  life. 

This  is  distinctive  and  different  from  anything 
else  in  the  world.  The  democratic  spirit  which 
it  has  encouraged  has  given  great  impetus  to 
such  movements  as  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  and  the  Young  People's  Society  of 
Christian  Endeavour.  These  have,  of  course, 
flourished  in  England  and  certain  European  coun- 
tries, but  their  growth  there  does  not  compare 
with  their  growth  here. 

Beside  these,  America  has  had  many  religious 
thinkers,  such  as  the  Beechers,  father  and  son, 
Bushnell,  and  Finney,  of  Oberlin.  These  names 
would  occur  to  every  one.  If  I  do  not  mention 
Edwards  and  Emmons,  Hopkins  and  Hodge,  it  is 
because  they  hardly  represent  a  product  of 
American  thought,  but  only  vigorous  American 
representations  of  ancient  Augustinian  theology. 

American  young  thinkers,  —  and  young  in  this 
connection  means  youthful  in  thought,  not  neces- 
sarily youthful  in  years, —  have  shown,  all  along, 


2O2  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

the  same  spirit  of  enterprise  in  theology  that 
American  business  men  have  shown  in  com- 
merce. 

Will  the  American  Protestantism  evangelize  the 
world  ? 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

SECTS. 

EVERYTHING  new  is  taking  in  this  New 
J — '  World.  Precisely  speaking,  "Theosophy" 
is  the  oldest  of  the  old  faiths,  but  it  has  been  so 
long  forgotten  that  it  looks  like  something  new, 
and  it  has  been  taken  up  very  quickly,  so  that 
to-day  there  are  said  to  be  a  million  and  a  half 
believers  in  the  United  States  alone,  while  in 
France  there  are  about  three  hundred  only. 

Undoubtedly,  this  extraordinary  development 
can  be  attributed  to  Madame  Blavatsky,  the  ex- 
traordinary Cossack,  who  was  the  leader  of  the 
"  Theosophic  "  sect. 

While  in  a  state  of  catalepsy  she  appeared 
double  ;  sometimes  an  archangel  spoke  with  her 
equivocal  lips,  sometimes  a  horrible  and  vile 
demon  roared.  She  was  always  strange  and 
varied  under  frightful  and  bad  influence  ;  but, 
notwithstanding  her  faults  and  mistakes,  she  was 
fascinating. 

By  her  fascinating  ways,  she  won  over  to  her 
sect  the  Comtesse  d'Adhemar  and  the  Duchesse 


204  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

de  Pomar.  She  was  recognized  as  the  messenger 
of  the  human  gods  of  Thibet,  notwithstanding  all 
the  attacks  of  the  New  York  Sun,  which  called 
her,  not  thaumaturgus,  but  juggler. 

This  is  her  picture.  Her  head  was  dressed  in 
a  black  fichu,  her  body  was  wrapped  in  a  big, 
shapeless  garment,  half  blouse  and  half  overcoat, 
belted  in  with  a  kind  of  monk's  girdle.  Her 
thick  and  almost  white  hair  was  crimped  above 
her  forehead.  Her  large  eyes  were  inexplicable, 
steel-coloured,  with  the  look,  half  ferocious,  half 
divine,  of  the  archangel  destroying  the  universe. 

What  is  there  womanly  in  those  features, 
marked  by  the  control  of  a  terrible  will  ? 

The  nose  was  spreading  and  large,  as  in  the 
case  of  old  people  who  love  good  living ;  the 
strong  mouth  was  marked  a  little  by  disdain  or 
fury,  by  an  enthusiasm  that  could  not  be  satisfied 
here  below. 

The  hand  alone  was  infinitely  aristocratic  ;  so 
fine,  so  white,  so  slender,  that  one  might  imagine 
it  the  hand  of  some  cherub. 

Her  admirers  pretended  that,  during  the  ten 
years  preceding  her  death,  she  lived  miraculously, 
as  she  had  been  doomed  by  all  her  physicians  ; 
also,  that  much  which  she  said  or  wrote  was  not 
from  her,  but  came  to  her  from  invisible  masters. 


SECTS.  2O5 

Her  power  of  suggestion  was  wonderful.  Often 
she  said,  "  Look  in  your  laps,"  and  the  one  who 
looked  perceived  an  enormous  spider.  Then  she 
smiled  and  said,  "  This  spider  does  not  exist,  I 
merely  wanted  to  show  it  to  you." 

When  she  was  writing  "  Isis  Unveiled,"  or 
"The  Secret  Doctrine,"  she  sometimes  fell  asleep ; 
upon  waking,  she  would  find  thirty  or  forty  pages 
in  another  handwriting,  and  she  was  unable  to 
explain  the  strange  fact. 

Please  bear  in  mind  that  this  is  the  opinion  of 
her  admirers  and  not  mine. 

After  her  came  Colonel  Olcott,  the  adminis- 
trator of  the  society  of  which  Blavatsky  was  the 
great  master. 

The  "  Theosophical "  society,  as  a  society,  has 
no  dogmas.  It  has  three  declared  objects  : 

1.  To  form  the  nucleus  of  an  universal  broth- 
erhood of  humanity,  without  distinction  of  race, 
creed,  sex,  caste,  or  colour. 

2.  To  promote  the  study  of  Aryan  and  other 
Eastern  literatures,  religions,  philosophies,  and  sci- 
ences, and  to  demonstrate  the  importance  of  their 
study. 

3.  To  investigate  unexplained  laws  of  nature, 
and  the  psychic  powers  latent  in  man. 


206  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

The  "Theosophic"  philosophy  might  be  said 
to  postulate  two  quite  distinct  yet  closely  inter- 
woven lines  of  heredityx  through  which  the  laws 
of  Karma  and  Reincarnation  become  operative. 
One  is  that  of  the  body,  in  which  physical  charac- 
teristics and  disease  are  transmitted  ;  the  other 
can  hardly  be  correctly  spoken  of  as  heredity, 
since  it  is  really  the  continuance  of  the  mind  and 
higher  principles  which,  in  its  new  personality, 
receive  as  an  inheritance  from  those  preceding 
the  doom  or  burden  of  their  deserts. 

But  this  is  not  the  limit  of  the  Theosophist's 
division  of  the  composite  man,  which  goes  much 
beyond  the  orthodox  segregation  into  body  and 
soul.  From  the  Theosophic  standpoint,  the  body 
is  not  a  "principle,"  but  merely  a  temporary 
"house  of  clay,"  infused  by  a  "life  principle," 
which  is  universal,  inextinguishable,  and  which, 
upon  the  death  of  the  body,  simply  goes  out  again 
to  the  general  life  wave  for  entrance  into  and 
vivifi cation  of  other  forms.  And  the  body,  as  we 
see  and  know  it,  is  but  an-  insensate,  powerless 
clod,  all  its  apparent  sensations  and  impulses 
having  their  origination,  perception,  and  direction, 
in  higher  intangible  principles,  and  manifesting 
through  the  "astral  "  form,  upon  and  in  conform- 
ity to  which  the  physical  body  is  moulded. 


SECTS.  2O7 

The  principles  acting  through  the  "astral" 
medium  are  Karma  and  Manas.  The  former  is 
the  "animal  soul,"  impeller  of  sensuous  desires 
and  energy,  a  potent  power  for  debasement  if 
uncontrolled. 

Manas  (which  signifies  mind)  is  susceptible  to 
subdivision  into  the  "lower,"  which  affords  intel- 
lectual direction  in  life,  the  dominating  force  in 
material  matters  during  mundane  existence,  and  is 
properly  known  as  the  human  soul.  Yielding  to 
the  seductions  of  influences  of  the  animal  soul, 
it  may  altogether  lose  its  hold  upon  the  higher 
principles,  and,  at  the  end  of  a  life  of  evil,  drop, 
with  the  personality  to  which  it  belongs,  out  of 
the  chain  of  evolutionary  reincarnation. 

The  "higher"  Manas,  with  the  Atmic  cry  of 
pure  spirit  from  the  divine  sources,  and  the  con- 
necting link  or  bond  between  them,  known  as 
Bucldhi  (wisdom),  constitute  the  spiritual  soul, 
or  "  Atma-Manasic  triad  : "  the  true  individuality 
which  passes  through  the  experiences  of  many 
personalities,  but  is  "  birthless,  and  deathless,  and 
changeless  forever."  This  spiritual  soul  is  the 
"  Ever  conscious  seer  and  knower,"  and  directs 
the  selection  by  the  human  soul,  in  proportion  to 
its  Karmic  deserts,  of  the  fleshy  bodies  in  which 
the  stages  of  its  pilgrimage  shall  be  made. 


208  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Such  is  the  condensed  philosophy  of  the  Theo- 
sophic  belief. 

It  is  right  to  call  this  sect  fin  de  sttcle,  as 
Theosophists  themselves  claim  that  their  masters 
always  choose  the  last  twenty-five  years  of  each 
century ;  thus  we  have  seen  in  the  eighteenth 
century  in  Europe,  Cagliostro,  Saint-Germain,  and 
Cazotte. 

I  do  not  know  whether  there  were  any  in 
America  at  the  same  time. 

Everybody  knows  of  the  Mormons  ;  as  it  is  not 
necessary  to  talk  about  them,  I  will  only  say  that 
it  is  only  by  Mormonism  that  America  could  re- 
main American,  and  not  become  Irish  a  hundred 
years  from  now. 

"  How  is  that  ?  "  some  one  will  ask. 

The  answer  is  very  simple.  The  progeny  of 
the  prophets  of  this  sect  are  very  numerous.  An 
enormous  nuptial  bed,  and  many  wives,  could  lead 
only  to  extensive  living  consequences. 

What  a  man  this  Brigham  Young  was ! 

If  the  junior  Brigham  should  follow  his  good 
example,  we  would  have,  in  fifty  years  from  now, 
a  Brighamic  people  ! 

Go  to-day  to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  ask,  "  Where 
are  the  women  ?  " 


SECTS.  209 

Women  ?  They  are  only  a  legend  !  The  Mor- 
mon has  now  only  one  wife ;  the  disciple  of 
Brigham  Young  is  reduced  to  the  daily  contem- 
plation of  the  charms  of  the  same  wife,  and  he 
must  be  satisfied  with  her ;  if  not,  the  most  se- 
vere punishment  awaits  him.  Such  was  the  strict 
decision  of  Congress.  A  Mormon  who  was  dis- 
cussing it  said  : 

"  All  this  is  a  pity ;  they  persecute  us  for  hav- 
ing shown  our  frankness  in  practising  publicly 
that  which  others  practise  as  hypocrites." 

Nothing  but  a  memory  remains  of  this  "happy" 
time  when  the  Mormon  could  pass  from  the 
brunette  to  the  blonde,  from  red  to  light  auburn. 

You  can  see  only  the  bed  of  the  prophet. 

What  a  bed! — and  it  once  contained  a  Cythe- 
rean  squadron.  To-day  this  venerable  piece  of 
furniture  is  forgotten  in  dust  and  neglect. 

By  the  by,  I  found  a  proof  that  the  Frenchman 
is  the  most  witty  fellow  in  the  world.  (You  see 
that  already  I  am  Americanized  to  the  extent  of 
adopting  your  pet  expression.)  Go  to  the  capitol 
of  the  Mormons  and  look  on  their  register,  —  not 
one  Frenchman  !  If  that  is  not  wit,  we  do  not 
know  what  wit  is.  It  is  useless  to  go  to  search  for 
that  which  we  have  near  at  hand.  On  the  contrary, 
there  are  many  Fnglish  and  Saxons,  less  numer- 


210  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

ous  now,  it  is  true,  since  the  vexatious  law  does 
not  permit  the  luxury  of  more  than  one  legitimate 
wife. 

But  there  is,  in  America,  a  sect  more  interesting 
than  the  Mormons,  the  "  Oneida  Community,"  or 
"  Free  Lovers." 

It  was  originated  by  Dr.  Noyes.  The  members 
of  this  sect  believe  in  the  community  of  property, 
and  their  principal  maxim  is  that  marriage  is  a 
most  shameful  institution.  In  fact,  what  is  mar- 
riage, if  not  the  entire  consecration  of  a  man  to  a 
woman  and  of  a  woman  to  a  man  ?  Those  two 
beings  are  egotistical,  and  reserve  for  each  other  a 
love  which  society  shall  not  enjoy.  But,  as  human 
beings  have  passions  which  must  be  satisfied,  the 
best  way  is  to  guide  them,  to  control  them,  and  to 
have  the  youth  of  both  sexes  associate  in  love 
with  older  and  more  experienced  people. 

Conclusion  :  a  board  of  directors,  composed  of 
the  elders,  called  "  Fathers  "  and  "  Mothers,"  de- 
cide upon  the  unions  which  should  be  made  ;  they 
choose  a  young  girl  for  a  gray  beard,  or  a  young 
man  for  woman  of  mature  age.  If  a  mutual  re- 
pugnance exists  between  the  two  appointed  per- 
sons they  have  the  privilege  of  excusing  them- 
selves ;  finally,  if  a  young  man  desires  a  certain 


SECTS.  2 1  I 

woman,  he  must  refrain  from  speaking  to  her,  but 
go  to  the  director  and  tell  him  privately  : 

"  Look  here,  will  you  assign  me  for  the  next 
month  the  red  one  ?  " 

In  fact,  every  month  the  committee  arranges  a 
certain  number  of  matches.  As  for  the  children, 
if  there  are  any,  they  receive  an  education  at  the 
expense  of  the  community,  but,  according  to  their 
doctrine,  it  is  not  necessary  to  desire  to  have 
them. 

And  so  this  amiable  Dr.  Noyes  wished  to  legiti- 
mise vice  and  debauchery.  It  is  probable  that  he 
was  homely  and  incapable  of  inspiring  anything 
but  aversion  ;  therefore,  he  invented  an  ingenious 
way  of  procuring  a  wife  in  the  name  of  religion. 

Not  a  very  stupid,  and  certainly  not  an  expen- 
sive, way ! 

The  city  of  Boston  is  the  home  of  a  very 
strange  sect,  which  was  developed  in  an  extraor- 
dinary way,  and  which,  actually,  has  members  all 
over  the  United  States.  I  refer  to  the  Christian 
Scientists,  who  claim  to  be  able  to  cure  all  moral 
and  physical  disease. 

I  tried  several  times  to  get  an  explanation  of 
this  religion,  but  I  got  only  such  answers  as  the 
following  : 


212  A    PARISIAA7  IN  AMERICA. 

"  Our  belief  is  so  difficult  to  define  and  even  to 
understand,  that  it  takes  years  and  years  of  study, 
and  even  then  it  would  be  impossible  for  one  who 
is  indifferent  to  understand  it ;  one  must  have 
faith  to  be  able  to  penetrate  such  a  mystery." 

The  first  principle  of  this  religion  is  this  :  We 
are  made  in  the  image  of  God,  consequently  we 
are  perfect ;  God,  then,  has  not  created  disease, 
either  physical  or  moral ;  if  it  exists  it  is  because 
there  are  bad  people  in  the  world.  The  really 
good  people  who  will  belong  to  our  sect  will  be 
free  from  all  suffering  and  will  live  a  long  time,  if 
not,  indeed,  always. 

If,  by  chance,  we  have  any  sickness,  it  is  the 
old  story  of  "  spoiled  grapes  ;  "  our  neighbor  is  to 
blame  and  we  have  to  conjure  the  evil,  not  by  a 
prayer,  as  we  are  in  perpetual  communion  with 
the  Lord,  but  by  reasoning  and  by  assuring  our- 
selves that  our  misfortune  is  caused  by  a  bad 
soul  and  that  we  will  not  suffer. 

Ouf  !     How  can  one  understand  such  stuff ! 

You  catch  typhoid  fever,  meditate  in  a  corner 
and  say  to  your  disease  : 

"  Excuse  me,  madam,  you  are  mistaken  ;  I  am 
exceedingly  good  ;  do  me  the  favour  to  go  back 
whence  you  came,  as  I  do  not  like  to  have  any- 
thing to  do  with  you." 


SECTS.  213 

This  done,  the  fever  recognizes  that  it  has  made 
a  mistake,  and  you  are  cured. 

You  must  not  call  the  doctor,  or  the  charm  will 
be  broken  ;  not  to  mention  that,  perhaps,  his  soul 
is  wicked,  and  that  he  would  communicate  to  you 
some  evil  which  you  did  not  already  have. 

To  obtain  successful  results,  one  must  be  a 
professor  in  Christian  sciences,  and  have  worked  a 
long  time.  A  simple  believer  cannot  cure  him- 
self, he  must  go  to  one  of  those  spiritual  doctors, 
and  generally  they  are  women. 

No  matter  how  foolish  this  doctrine  may  seem, 
I  must  acknowledge  that  it  is  practised,  not  only 
among  the  working  class,  but  among  people  of 
high  life,  also. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  see  the  woman  doctor,  if 
she  is  a  homely  one ;  one  can  write  to  her  three 
times  a  week.  Having  been  cured  of  one  sick- 
ness, a  person  can  be  treated  afterwards  by  tele- 
graph. Awaking  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
with  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  one  can  send  her  a 
dispatch,  and,  about  noon,  having  received  an 
answer,  he  will  feel  better.  You  can  even  use 
the  telephone. 

"  Hello,  central,  hello.     Please  give  me  Boston 

555-" 

"All  right." 


214  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

A  second  after : 

"Hello,  is  that  Dr.  Ella  Terhune?" 

"  Yes,  who  is  this  ?  " 

"Good  morning,  Doc.  I  passed  last  evening 
with  a  '  friend '  who  gave  me  an  awful  headache. 
What  shall  I  do  ?  " 

No  doubt,  if  the  prescription  does  not  cure,  it 
will  not  make  you  any  worse ;  you  can  try  it. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

IMMIGRATION. 

WHAT  is  the  matter  with  you,  O'Reilly; 
you  look  troubled,"  said  a  seaman  to  an 
Irishman  on  board  a  steamer  approaching  New 
York. 

"  Well,  I  have  reason  to  be  troubled ;  the 
steamer  is  behind  time ;  to-morrow  is  election 
day,  as  you  know,  and  if  we  get  in  too  late,  I  will 
not  be  able  to  vote." 

"  But  is  n't  it  your  first  visit  to  America  ?  " 

"  Yes ;  but  that  has  nothing  to  do  with  my 
voting." 

"  I  should  think  it  would  ;  you  are  not  a  citizen 
of  the  United  States,  and  so  you  cannot  vote." 

"Oh,  Croker  makes  every  Irishman  vote  as 
soon  as  he  has  landed." 

The  inconceivable  energy,  developed  in'  this 
country  by  a  people  who  have  been  slaves  in  their 
own  country  for  several  centuries,  is  the  principal 
cause  of  the  irritation  against  foreigners.  Of 
course,  in  order  not  to  show  their  true  feelings, 
Americans  speak  about  the  Hungarians,  Chinese, 
215 


2l6  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Poles,  and  Italians,  accusing  them  of  coming  to 
this  country  only  to  make  money,  and,  as  soon  as 
they  have  made  some,  of  going  back  to  their  own 
country.  They  say,  also,  that  they  work  for 
lower  wages  than  American  workmen  ;  but,  at  the 
bottom  of  all  those  accusations,  there  is  justified 
jealousy  resulting  from  the  preponderance  of  the 
Irish  element  in  the  political  affairs  of  some 
places.  Hence,  the  opposition  of  many  Americans 
to  immigration,  and  the  repressive  laws  recently 
made  against  it. 

Are  they  right  ? 

Ma  foi!  Yes,  from  the  egotistical  point  of 
view,  they  are  entirely  right ;  but  from  a  better, 
more  humane  point  of  view,  and  even  from  the 
economical  point  of  view,  they  are  wrong. 

Americans,  who  are  religious  people,  should  not 
forget  that  God,  in  creating  this  earth  and  the 
different  races  on  it,  did  not  destine  one  race  to 
be  rich,  and  the  other  poor,  one  to  have  abun- 
dance, and  the  other  to  be  in  want. 

Until  the  time  of  Darwin,  although  many  in- 
justices were  done,  many  bloody  battles  \vere 
fought,  and  the  world  belonged  to  the  strong,  the 
brutal  fight  for  life,  among  more  civilized  nations, 
was  cloaked  over  by  the  mantle  of  more  elevated 
ideas,  —  religion,  civilization,  etc. 


IMMIGRA  TION.  21 J 

The  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  produced  Darwin, 
who  justifies  the  iniquities  committed  in  the 
struggle  for  life,  and  makes  from  them  implac- 
able laws. 

Happily  for  mankind,  Darwin's  theories  have 
not  been  adopted  by  the  Christian  world ;  the 
Bible  has  not  been  replaced  by  the  theory  of 
evolution. 

All  hatred  of  other  people,  no  matter  of  what 
nationality,  is  contrary  to  the  Christian  doctrine. 
Jesus  Christ  never  excited  antagonism  between 
nations ;  He  never  excited  one  people  against 
another,  but,  having  a  heart  larger  than  Zoroaster, 
Buddha,  Confucius,  Moses,  and  Mahomet,  he  em- 
braced in  His  sublime  doctrine  all  mankind. 

Ah !  surely  man  is  very  wicked  to  have  dis- 
torted such  elevated  principles  ! 

History  tells  us,  moreover,  that  Americans  are 
wrong  in  usurping  this  continent  for  themselves 
alone,  because  we  know  that  America  belongs  to 
the  whole  white  ra.ce  jure  cadnco,  and  by  no  means 
to  the  Anglo-Saxons  exclusively.  You  know  it  as 
well  as  I  do  ;  then  by  what  reason  do  you  claim 
that  this  country  shall  belong  exclusively  to  the 
Anglo-Saxons  ?  You  are  here  in  a  majority,  and 
it  is  your  opportunity,  but  do  not  excite  Jiatred 


2l8  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

against  others  unless  you  wish  to  be  obliged  to 
acknowledge  that  St.  Barthelemi  night,  that  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  that  the  horri- 
ble persecutions  of  Duke  of  Alba  in  Holland,  were 
just  attacks  on  Protestants. 

And  then  open  your  history  and  read  : 

"  We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that 
all  men  are  created  equal ;  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  inalienable  rights, 
that  among  these  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness." 

Then  such  men  as  Washington,  Franklin,  Jeffer- 
son, and  Adams  declared  that  "all  men  are  created 
equal,"  and  the  Americans  consider  themselves 
the  equals  of  the  British,  although  the  latter  were 
richer  and  stronger ;  but  to-day  they  do  not  con- 
sider the  Italians  equal  to  them,  because  the  Ital- 
ians are  poorer. 

It  is  exactly  the  same  with  the  European  bour- 
geois, who  claims  to  be  equal  to  a  count,  but  con- 
siders himself  superior  to  a  workman. 

In  those  times  Americans,  desiring  to  be  happy, 
claimed  that  the  "  pursuit  of  happiness  is  an  in- 
alienable right  ;  "  to-day,  being  happy  themselves, 
they  restrict  the  chances  of  others  for  "  the  pur- 
suit of  happiness." 

Is  that  right  ?     Answer  yourselves. 


IMMIGRA  TION.  2  1 9 

More  practical  and  more  eloquent  arguments 
even  are  furnished  by  political  economy. 

In  the  first  place,  those  poor  devils  work  in  the 
construction  of  your  railroads  and  of  your  sewers 
and  of  your  mines.  To-day,  a  country  cannot  be 
considered  as  civilized  without  roads  and  without 
water  and  without  sewerage  systems.  You  know 
that  very  well.  Those  dirty  foreigners,  spoken  of 
by  you  with  so  much  contempt,  civilize  your  own 
country.  Without  them,  you  would  be  as  wild  as 
Asia,  or  you  would  be  obliged  to  come  down  in 
your  notions. 

Some  one  will  tell  me  that  the  American  work- 
men would  build  such  works  if  they  were  better 
paid.  It  is  false.  In  the  first  place,  nobody  pre- 
vents you  from  taking  American  workmen,  paying 
them  more  and  giving  them  work  in  preference 
to  foreigners.  But  you  do  not  do  it,  and,  conse- 
quently, economical  struggles  do  not  belong  to 
the  domain  of  patriotism. 

In  the  second  place,  the  American  workman  is 
very  aristocratic  in  a  democratic  country,  and  he 
would  not  do  the  dirty  work  of  the  streets,  or 
such  hard  work  as  railroad  building.  When  he 
is  working  he  must  have  gloves,  and  after  work  a 
rocking-chair,  a  carpet  under  his  feet,  and  a  china 
cuspidore,  articles  which  he  cannot  find  in  the 


22O  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

deserts,  through  which  the  railroad  must  be  built. 
Such  dirty  and  laborious  work  is  good  enough  for 
Irish  and  Italians  and  Chinese;  mining  is  good 
enough  for  Hungarians. 

Then  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  these  poor 
people  render  great  service  to  this  country  for  a 
paltry  dollar  or  less  per  day.  Then  why  not  be 
just  towards  them,  at  least,  and  acknowledge  the 
true  value  of  their  work  ? 

Why  consider  them  as  inferior,  because  they 
do  not  have  carpets  in  their  lodgings,  and  new  ten- 
dollar  suits  on  their  backs  on  Sunday !  Do  you 
think  that  such  things  constitute  real  superiority  ? 
No,  a  thousand  times  no  !  If  you  would  acknowl- 
edge the  truth,  those  poor,  dirty  Italian  sewer 
builders  are  superior  to  your  proud  and  rough 
American  workmen.  I  will  tell  you  why  :  They 
know  their  trade  better  than  eighty  per  cent,  of 
the  American  workmen  do. 

Of  course,  an  American  is  clever  enough  to  do 
everything,  but  can  he  do  it  well  ?  That  is  the 
question  which  can  be  honestly  answered,  no.  It 
has  been  so  answered  even  by  Americans,  who 
have  been  much  abroad,  and  by  those  who  have 
in  their  employment  foreign  and  American  work- 
men. 


IMMJGRA  TION.  2  2 1 

And  then  those  dirty  Italians  are  polite,  and 
have  a  love  of  the  beautiful,  such  as  no  nation 
has  ;  they  are  faithful  wives  and  husbands  ;  they 
love  their  sunny  country,  and  you  must  agree  that 
that  is  a  virtue,  and,  like  every  virtue,  it  must  be 
admired. 

The  same  reflections,  mutatis  mutandis,  can  be 
applied  to  the  other  nations. 

Another  economical  point  is  this  :  those  immi- 
grants come  here  poor,  they  work,  and  by  their 
work  increase  the  riches  of  the  country,  and  the 
riches  of  Americans.  Nothing  is  more  simple; 
but,  as  the  simplest  things  are  generally  over- 
looked, so  it  is  with  this  point. 

Just  listen,  and  you  will  understand. 

Suppose  that  a  hundred  thousand  immigrants 
come  each  year  to  this  country  ;  suppose  that  they 
have  only  ten  dollars  apiece ;  it  is  a  million  of 
ready  money  that  they  bring  here. 

Now,  suppose  that  each  of  those  hundred  thou- 
sand buy  two  pairs  of  shoes  per  year,  it  is  two  hun- 
dred thousand  pairs  of  shoes  sold  by  the  American 
producers.  It  will  be  the  same  with  hats,  shirts, 
coats,  furniture,  etc.  And,  as  almost  all  the  man- 
ufacturing business  is  in  the  hands  of  Americans, 
who  profits  by  it  ? 


222  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

How  many  Americans  have  become  millionaires 
by  selling  land  to  the  immigrants  ? 

How  many  have  accumulated  riches  by  building 
houses  for  them,  selling  1  umber,  bricks,  etc.  ? 

How  many  thousands  of  watches  have  they 
sold  ?  for  every  workman,  after  he  has  a  little 
money,  buys  a  watch  and  chain. 

Who  has  profited  by  all  this  ? 

A  strong  objection  is,  that  those  dreadful  for- 
eigners do  not  stay  here,  but  as  soon  as  they 
make  money  leave  the  country.  But  even  this  is 
an  advantage  to  the  United  States,  as  newcomers 
need  watches,  and  chains,  and  pillows,  and  blankets, 
and  beds,  and  furniture ;  and  this  makes  business 
and  creates  a  demand,  and,  when  producers  find 
consumers,  the  country  is  animated  and  grows 
rich. 

It  is  the  A,  B,  C  of  political  economy  that  the 
riches  of  the  country  are  not  in  the  accumulation 
of  gold  and  silver,  but  in  the  amount  of  work. 

America  is  rich  because  everybody  works  here. 
Russia,  with  all  its  natural  riches,  with  plenty  of 
gold  and  silver,  is  poor,  because  they  do  not  work 
as  they  do  in  America. 

And    the    Americans,    who    claim    to    be    the 


IMMIGRA  TION.  223 

smartest  people  in  the  world,  —  and  in  fact,  as  I 
acknowledge  myself,  they  are  in  many  ways,  —  are 
blind  on  this  point,  because  political  jealousy  of 
Irish  preponderance  in  some  places  puts  the  scales 
on  their  eyes. 

And  where  is  your  celebrated  American  eye  ? 

I  am  not  writing  a  dissertation  on  political  econ- 
omy, but  I  cannot  refrain  from  expressing  some 
economical  truths  which,  perhaps,  will  help  my 
American  friends  to  look  on  immigration  from  the 
right  point  of  view. 

It  is  entirely  wrong  to  suppose  that  a  country 
is  poor  because  of  the  lack  of  money. 

It  is  calculated  by  M.  Oscar  Comettant  that  the 
whole  amount  of  gold  coin  in  the  world  is  eighteen 
billions  of  francs,  and  of  silver  coin  twenty  billions 
of  francs.  The  population  of  our  planet  is  one 
billion  and  a  half.  If  this  entire  stock  of  money 
should  be  divided  among  the  population  of  the 
globe,  every  single  individual  would  have  25.33 
francs.  Everybody  would  be  poor. 

Let  us  make  another  supposition  :  let  us  suppose 
that  by  some  natural  phenomenon  a  gold  powder 
should  fall  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  that 
everybody  could  be  a  millionaire.  It  would  not 
make  life  more  easy,  because  you  would  be  obliged 
to  pay  a  hundred  dollars  for  a  pound  of  bread, 


224  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

twenty  dollars  for  an  egg,  and  for  everything  in 
proportion ;  because  an  abundance  of  precious 
metals  has  the  effect  of  increasing  the  price  of 
everything  which  must  be  bought,  as  well  as  the 
wages  of  the  workman,  without  changing  the  ratio 
of  things. 

It  is  not  on  account  of  the  abundance  of  gold 
that  a  country  is  rich,  but  on  the  extent  of  produc- 
tion balanced  by  the  same  extent  of  consumption. 

There  are  one  and  a  half  billions  of  people  on 
the  earth,  but  this  same  surface  can  support  very 
easily  six  billions  ! 

Some  of  the  States  of  the  Union  are  larger  than 
France,  which  feeds  forty  millions,  while  they  have 
a  few  thousands  only. 

It  has  been  stated,  and  not  once,  that  man  lives 
by  the  production  from  the  earth.  Then  we  have 
to  cultivate  more  and  work  more,  so  that  we  may 
have  more  to  eat  and  be  happier,  and  we  should 
not  be  obliged  to  drive  away  others. 

Of  course,  to  cultivate  more  land  takes  money, 
but  your  millionaires,  your  insurance  companies, 
your  banks,  have  plenty  of  it ;  why  not,  then,  have 
an  economical  organization  with  a  view  to  facili- 
tating the  cultivation  of  land  ? 

Why  not  follow  those  enterprises  which  already 
have  been  successful  in  California  and  Texas,  irri- 


IMMIGRA  TION.  22$ 

gating  the  land  and  making  unproductive  territory 
pay  interest  of  more  than  a  hundred  per  cent.  ? 

In  such  a  way  the  hatred  of  the  foreigner  in 
this  country  will  become  less,  brotherly  love  and 
natural  riches  will  increase,  and  this  great  country 
will  become  really  great ! 


CHAPTER    XV. 

ORIGINALITY. 

r  I  "HE   immoderate  love  of  eccentricity  makes 
*-     the  American  most  happy  when  he  is  talked 

about  in  the  four  corners  of  the  world. 

They  say  that  Barnum  never  was  so  happy  as 

one  day  when  he  received  a  letter  from  Europe 

addressed  — 

"  Mr.  Barnum." 

There  was  no  further  direction. 

To  be  so  well  known,  any  genuine  American 
would  give  his  last  dollar.  (?) 

Love  of  originality  or  eccentricity  is  the  cause 
of  the  coloured  dinners.  According  to  the  fancy 
of  the  mistress  of  the  house  who  invites  you,  you 
will  be  present  at  a  yellow,  blue,  pink,  or  green 
dinner. 

Suppose  it  is  a  pink  dinner,  then,  no  matter 
where  you  turn,  you  will  see  pink,  for  the  mistress 
of  the  house  asks  the  ladies  to  come  dressed  in 
pink.  Of  course,  it  is  out  of  the  question  to  ask 
the  men  to  wear  pink  pants  and  pink  frocks  ;  a 
226 


ORIGINALITY.  22? 

pink  necktie  will  do  for  them  ;  the  dining-room  is 
lost  in  flowers  of  this  colour,  the  table-cloth  is 
decorated  with  pink  ribbons. 

Once,  in  passing  a  church,  I  saw  written  on  the 
bulletin  board  :  "  Yellow  tea  this  evening." 

I  had  heard  already  of  green  tea,  and  black  tea, 
but  never  had  heard  of  yellow  tea,  and  I  at  once 
concluded  that  a  new  kind  of  tea  had  been  put  on 
the  market. 

Not  at  all !  The  yellow  was  all  in  your  eye  ;  it 
was  the  same  old  tea. 

I  never  heard  of  a  black  dinner,  and  yet  it 
might  be  given  in  good  taste  by  people  in  mourn- 
ing. The  waiters  might  be  darkies,  for  a  table- 
cloth they  could  use  a  winding  sheet,  and  they 
could  even  restore  the  black  broth  of  the  Spartans. 

In  this  hunt  after  originality,  the  American 
never  stops.  To  the  coloured  dinners  he  added 
historical  and  literary  dinners. 

At  the  very  first,  every  guest  must  play  the 
part  of  the  personage  whose  name  is  written  on 
the  menu.  Thus,  for  instance,  a  rich  grocer  may 
have  to  play  "  Carl  the  Great  ; "  a  pork  packer 
represents  "  Richelieu  ; "  the  mother  of  five  chil- 
dren, "Jeanne  d'Arc  ;"  while  her  oldest  daughter 
plays  "  Marie  Stuart."  A  clergyman  is  called  on 


228  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

to  represent  "Borgia,"  and  his  wife,  "Madame  de 
Pompadour."  There  are  some  anachronisms,  as, 
for  instance  : 

"  How  did  you  discover  America  ?"  asks  Wash- 
ington of  Columbus. 

"  Searching  after  something  eccentric." 

"  Were  the  Knickerbockers  already  here  at  that 
time? " 

"  Don't  mention  it ;  there  was  nobody  else 
here." 

But  such  mistakes  do  not  count,  and  everybody 
has  a  splendid  time. 

The  courses,  too,  must  be  historical.  I  give  a 
menu  for  the  edification  of  my  readers : 

POTAGE. 
Creme  de  vertu  a  la  Washington. 

ENTREES. 

Filet  de  sole  Colbert. 
Crillade  de  Huguenots  a  la  Charles  IX. 

R6xis. 

Chateaubriand  a  la  Soubise. 
Gelinottes  a  la  Cromwell. 

LEGUMES. 

Poinmes  Richelieu. 

Choux-fleiirs  Pierre  le  Grand. 

GLACE. 
Bombe  Franklin. 


ORIGINALITY.  22Q 

For  literary  people,  one  of  the  most  popular  is 
the  Shakespeare  dinner  : 

POTAGE. 

Larmes  de  Juliette. 

ENTREES. 

Grenouilles  a  la  Falstaff. 
Ris  de  veau  a  la  Hamlet. 

ROTIS. 

Bosuf  Shy  lock. 

Rossignols  a  la  Romeo. 

Epinard  Lady  Macbeth. 

LfiGUMES. 

Petit  pots  lago. 

GLACE. 

Oreilles  d' Othello. 

I  do  not  see  what  new  thing  they  can  find. 
There  will,  perhaps,  be  one  thing,  but  it  is  so 
doubtful,  that  I  hesitate  to  mention  it, —  a  dinner 
without  an  ex-governor. 

And  then  there  is  a  profusion  of  original  inven- 
tions of  every  sort ! 

A  school-teacher  does  not  need  to  trouble  him- 
self with  the  punishment  of  a  recalcitrant  pupil ; 
he  presses  a  button,  and  immediately  the  luckless 
youngster  feels  upon  his  hidden  roundness  the 


230  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

sensation  of  a  vigorous  slap,  —  "  something  does 
the  rest." 

There  is  another  invention  to  protect  the  people 
against  all  aggressions  in  the  street.  An  electric 
battery  hidden  under  the  vest  protects  perfectly. 
It  is  more  comfortable  and  more  certain  than  a 
revolver,  which  very  often  shoots  wide  of  the 
mark  on  account  of  the  excitement  of  the  one 
who  uses  it. 

A  gentleman  goes  out  in  the  evening.  His 
wife  asks  him  from  the  top  of  the  stairs  : 

"Have  you  your  battery,  dear?" 

"  Yes,  darling,  I  have  it." 

And  his  spouse,  thus  assured,  goes  to  bed 
peacefully,  while  he  goes  to  his  club. 

In  a  narrow  and  dark  street  two  highwaymen 
meet  him.  One  of  them  advances  and  cries  : 
"  Hands  up !  "  But,  at  the  same  moment,  he  feels 
a  vigorous  shock  which  knocks  him  down.  Two 
others  come  to  help  him,  —  the  same  fate. 

"  There  they  lie  down.  .  .   ' 

They  are  talking  about  the  invention  of  a 
machine  for  the  correct  carriage  of  millionaires. 
You  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  have  refined 
manners  when  for  thirty  or  forty  years  one  had 
driven  a  nag  or  worked  as  miner,  and  suddenly 
made  millions  in  a  bonanza. 


ORIGINALITY.  2 3  I 

The  machine  will  give  the  correct  posture,  and, 
if  he  abandons  it,  immediately  an  electric  shock 
will  announce  to  him  that  he  is  not  correct,  and 
he  will  again  take  his  proper  pose,  as  if  he  were 
before  the  photographer. 

The  same  invention  will  be  applied  in  the 
Senate. 

When  a  Senator  tries  by  mazy  arguments  to 
secure  the  passage  of  some  law  for  which  he  has 
been  bribed,  a  vigorous  electric  shock  will  send 
him  to  his  seat,  where  he  will  remain  hors  de  com- 
bat, to  the  great  benefit  of  the  whole  country. 

I  shall  speak  now  about  another  originality :  Its 
partisans  ask  for  a  reform  in  woman's  dress ;  the 
chief  articles  in  their  platform  are :  no  more 
corsets  ;  no  more  tight  skirts  ;  no  more  slavery  in 
fashion  ;  let  us  give  to  the  figure  its  true  form  ; 
the  body  should  be  dressed  under  the  skirt  in 
tights,  leaving  to  the  legs  all  their  suppleness,  and 
freeing  them  from  the  many  skirts,  the  rustle  of 
which  is  more  attractive  than  comfortable.  In 
this  way  a  young  miss  can  give  herself  up  to  the 
most  varied  diversions  without  compromising  her 
modesty ;  she  can  climb  the  trees,  even,  with  the 
agility  of  a  squirrel. 

Controversy  about  the  dress  of  women  is  very 


232  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

animated.      Some    women    are    for    skirts,    while 
others  are  for  masculinisation. 

To  decide  such  an  important  question,  the 
American  woman  ought  to  appeal  to  the  Emperor 
Commodus. 

What!  —  some  lover  of  easy  puns  will   say  — 
appeal  to  the  Emperor  Commodus  in  a  question 
of  commodiousness  ? 

Yes !  Because  this  Emperor  once  decreed  that 
the  necessity  of  clothing  does  not  require  any 
difference,  and,  he  concluded : 

"  Why  should  the  style  of  clothes  be  different, 
if  both  sexes  make  the  same  use  of  them  ?" 

Oh,  innocent  soul!  Where  did  you  find  that 
the  use  was  the  same  ?  How  soon  you  would 
change  your  opinion  if  you  saw  the  real  fashion  ? 

His  answer  does  not  solve  the  problem,  which, 
one  can  say,  will  never  be  solved  to  the  general 
satisfaction,  for  the  simple  reason  that  there  are 
in  the  world  two  classes  of  women,  —  the  well  built 
and  the  badly  built ;  that  which  is  becoming  to 
some  will  never  please  the  others.  A  costume 
which  you  would  find  charming,  when  worn  by  a 
pretty  girl,  would  look  hideous  on  girls  with  thin 
legs  ;  and  I  am  sure  that  even  so  masculine  look- 
ing a  woman  as  Frances  E.  Willard  or  Miss  Jean- 
nette  Gilder  would  not  vote  for  it. 


ORIGINALITY.  233 

So,  one  party  will  constantly  cry,  "  Show  it ; "  the 
other,  "Oh,  no!  hide  it."  Even  with  the  help  of 
Commodus  the  question  will  remain  unanswered. 
I  am  glad  of  it,  because  there  will  be  at  least  one 
thing  in  which  the  American  will  not  be  successful. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  efforts  of  the  Ameri- 
cans to  be  the  first  nation  in  the  world,  even  in 
originality,  they  are  surpassed  by  Australians, 
with  an  innovation  which  lacks  neither  novelty 
nor  philosophy. 

They  have  abolished  the  classical  wedding  re- 
past, and  replaced  it  by  a  divorce  dinner. 

All  the  friends  of  both  parties  are  invited  ;  the 
rice  and  old  slippers  are  replaced  by  the  wedding 
rings,  which  are  cut  in  two,  and  served  in  a  pie. 

What  a  pretty  subject  for  vaudeville  ! 

You  can  see  that  those  smart  Australians  sur- 
pass Americans  in  originality,  and  the  French  in 
gastronomy. 

Australian  gastronomy  is  better  advised  than 
ours.  In  Europe,  we  enjoy  prematurely  a  propos 
d'un  inconn,  something  which  may  be  terrible  or 
disappointing.  In  Europe,  do  they  not  drink  the 
health  of  husbands,  who  later  shall  have  canarde 
their  wives,  and  the  health  of  wives  who  shall  have 
rei'oli'crise  their  husbands  ? 


234  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

There  is  nothing  more  imprudent  than  to  dis- 
count the  happiness  of  this  mundane  sphere! 

In  Australia,  on  the  contrary,  they  know  what 
they  are  doing.  It  is  a  full  deliverance  that  they 
celebrate  to  the  music  : 

Liberte  cherie, 
Seul  bien  de  la  vie. 

Behold  a  truly  practical  people ;  this  is  one 
occasion  when  the  American  gets  left ! 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

NEW    ENGLAND. 

I  FEEL  like  writing  a  few  lines  about  the  New 
England  weather.  Oh  !  I  do  not  expect  to 
compete  with  Mark  Twain,  who  has  described 
New  England  weather  so  wittily. 

If  you  go  to  buy  a  cigar,  the  storekeeper  feels 
that  it  is  his  duty  to  assure  you  : 

"  Beautiful  weather,  is  it  not  ?  " 

In  fact,  everybody  talks  about  the  weather  in 
this  country.  Why  ?  Is  it  because  it  is  so 
changeable  ? 

To  have  the  opinion  of  some  good  authority, 
though  Americans  do  not  believe  in  authorities,  I 
went  to  see  a  "big -bug,"  as  you  say,  and  un 
gros  bonnet,  as  we  say,  in  the  meteorological 
department. 

My  conversation  with  him  was  very  edifying, 
something  like  the  following  : 

"  Mr.  Observer,  do  you  not  find  that  we  are 
freezing,  and  then,  in  a  few  hours,  roasted  ?  " 

"Well,  it  depends  on  one's  temperament,  my 
dear  sir." 


236  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"  Do  you  not  think,  sir,  that  the  spots  on  the 
sun  have  something  to  do  with  it  ? " 

"We  know  absolutely  nothing  about  it,  sir." 

"  Well,  what  is  the  cause  of  such  changes  in 
the  weather,  sir  ?  " 

"We  have  never  known  anything  about  it,  sir." 

"  I  am  sure,  sir,  that  the  weather  is  not  normal, 
this  year  we  do  not  have  rain  enough." 

"  I  cannot  help  that,  sir.  And  besides,  the 
weather  is  not  the  same  through  the  country." 

"Well,  that  makes  no  difference  to  us,  sir." 

"  Then,  to  reassure  you,  I  will  tell  you  that, 
during  the  last  fifty  years,  we  have  had  twenty 
summers  drier  than  this  one.  That  is  all,  sir, 
that  I  can  do  for  you  or  for  the  country." 

"Then  there  really  is  no  information  which  you 
can  give  me ;  I  will  bid  you  good-day,  sir." 

"  Oh  !  do  not  take  your  hat  off,  sir,  you  say 
that  you  are  freezing.  I  do  not  wish  your  polite- 
ness to  cause  you  a  cold." 

Upon  that  we  separated,  the  astronomer  asking 
himself  what  the  deuce  this  Frenchman  wanted 
to  know  about  our  weather,  and  I  congratulating 
myself  on  having  had  a  little  more  original  con- 
versation about  the  weather  than  with  my  tailor. 

But  let  us  talk  now,  seriously,  about  New 
England. 


NEW  ENGLAND. 

I  think  that  this  enormous  country  of  America 
and  its  civilisation  can  be  divided,  evidently  in 
abstract,  into  three  parts,  —  the  South,  the  East, 
and  the  West. 

The  South  is  past,  the  East  is  present,  and  the 
West  is  future. 

Let  us  speak  first  of  the  past. 

Soon  after  the  Pilgrims  and  Puritans,  escaping 
the  religious  persecution  of  the  Stuarts,  had  colo- 
nized the  North,  the  vanquished  partisans  of 
Charles  I.  also  came  to  this  new  world  to  seek  an 
asylum  and  a  home. 

A  very  strange  destiny  indeed,  which  brought, 
without  any  distinction,  to  the  same  distant  shore, 
those  who  placed  religious  liberty  and  political 
independence,  and  those  who  placed  monarchical 
devotion,  above  all  other  things !  A  strange 
destiny  which  made  volunteer  outlaws,  zealous 
Protestants,  fervent  Catholics,  passionate  liberals, 
and  fanatic  royalists  citizens  of  a  great  Republic  ! 

The  South  was  colonized  by  a  nobility  which 
brought  with  it  the  debris  of  its  fortune,  imported 
its  traditions,  its  ideas,  its  hopes.  Every  English- 
man of  good  family,  even  if  he  was  only  a  young- 
ster of  the  family,  was  a  business  man,  who  knew 
how  to  count,  to  value  his  estate,  to  manage  great 
enterprises,  and,  in  this  new  continent,  where  the 


238  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

soil  was  without  value,  but  of  inexhaustible  fecun- 
dity, he  promptly  amassed  a  new  fortune. 

Those  noblemen  had  preserved,  not  only  the 
love  of  generous  and  refined  living  which  was  con- 
tracted in  the  court  of  the  Stuarts,  they  preserved 
the  forms  of  it,  also.  They  built  large  residences 
on  their  plantations,  similar  to  those  in  which  they 
lived  in  England,  with  massive  chimneys,  pointed 
roofs,  mahogany  stairs,  narrow  windows,  and  large 
piazzas.  They  preserved,  also,  their  social  tradi- 
tions, and  love  of  domination.  They  led  an  easy 
existence,  leaving  much  of  their  time  for  hunting, 
fishing,  horse -racing,  and  athletic  sports.  They 
established  a  new  race,  which  considered  itself 
superior  by  blood,  by  lineage,  by  the  experience 
and  responsibility  of  commanding,  by  refinement 
of  manners,  by  intellectual  preeminence  and 
culture. 

It  was  this  race  that,  by  reason  of  rights  which 
no  one  contested,  furnished  to  the  American  Union 
its  legislators,  statesmen,  and  generals  ;  it  was  this 
race  that  governed  and  controlled  in  Congress  and 
in  the  field,  that  established  a  supremacy  of  the 
South  over  the  North,  which  lasted  until  the  day 
when,  based  upon  slavery,  it  fell  in  the  most 
bloody  Civil  War  which  the  world  had  ever 
known. 


NEW  ENGLAND.  2 39 

Washington,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Lee,  Paine, 
Monroe,  came  from  its  ranks.  The  South  fur- 
nished to  the  United  States  as  Presidents,  Wash- 
ington, Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe,  Jackson, 
Tyler,  Polk,  Taylor,  and  Johnson. 

To-day  the  South  is  the  past,  for  I  shall  not 
turn  prophet  like  Baron  de  Hiibner,  who,  in  his 
Promenade  autour  du  monde,  sees  in  the  future 
an  independent  South.  It  is  the  grand peiit-etre 
of  Rabelais  applied  to  politics. 

While  the  Southern  immigrants,  who  consti- 
tuted the  aristocratic  element  of  the  future 
United  States,  gave  to  their  possession  the  name 
of  "Old  Dominion,"  the  Northern  settlements 
were  penetrated  with  a  strong  democratic  feeling 
which  prevailed  and  spread  all  over  the  United 
States,  and  penetrated  all  social,  political,  and 
religious  institutions.  I  do  not  hesitate  in  say- 
ing that  the  grandeur  of  America  is  due  to  their 
vigorous  ideas  ;  that  what  is  best  in  American 
institutions  came  from  their  healthy  democracy, 
—  everything  except  the  finest  culture,  which  is 
coming  now  little  by  little.  An  important  con- 
sideration in  estimating  the  glory  of  the  East  is 
that,  as  the  fight  for  the  independence  of  the 
United  States  was  commenced  here,  as  Wendell 


240  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

Phillips  made  his  first  antislavery  speech  here,  so 
the  artistic  and  literary  movement  was  started 
here. 

It  is  in  New  England  that  Benjamin  Franklin 
was  born  ;  it  is  in  New  England  that  such  glorious 
poets  as  Bryant,  Longfellow,  Whittier,  and  Lowell 
have  shone  ;  it  is  in  New  England  that  Daniel 
Webster,  Wendell  Phillips,  Winthrop,  Hawthorne, 
and  Emerson  were  born ;  it  is  in  New  England  that 
such  artists  as  Allston,  Copley,  William  Hunt, 
Fuller,  Foxcroft  Cole  painted  ;  it  is  New  England 
that  produced  the  finest  American  architect,  Rich- 
ardson ;  it  is  from  New  England  that  B.  W. 
Howard,  L.  M.  Alcott,  S.  O.  Jewett,  H.  M.  Har- 
land,  T.  W.  Higginson,  Fiske,  A.  D.  T.  Whitney, 
L.  C.  Moulton,  J.  G.  Austin,  F.  R.  Stockton,  T. 
S.  Hunger,  H.  D.  Thoreau  came. 

It  is  in  New  England  that  we  find  the  earliest 
and  best  university,  Harvard  ;  it  is  New  England 
that  possesses  Tom  Reed,  and  Dr.  Everett  ;  it  is 
New  England  that  possesses  Julia  Ward  Howe, 
Mark  Twain,  Mary  E.  Wilkins ;  it  is  in  New  Eng- 
land that  Enn eking,  Tarbell,  Benson,  Hayden, 
Vinton,  Hardie,  and  Turner  paint ;  it  is  in  New 
England  that  H.  H.  Kitson,  Theo  Alice  Ruggles, 
and  Dalin,  and  Bachmann  sculpture ;  it  is  from 


NEW  ENGLAND.  241 

New  England  that  capital  goes  to  Western  enter- 
prises ;  it  is  New  England  that  produced  such 
a  famous  religious  thinker  as  Phillips  Brooks ; 
New  England  possesses  the  largest  cotton  facto- 
ries at  Fall  River,  New  Bedford,  Woonsocket, 
Lowell,  Lawrence,  and  in  the  vicinity  of  Provi- 
dence ;  New  England  possesses  the  largest  jewelry 
factories  at  Providence,  and  furnishes  the  whole 
United  States  with  the  jewelry  of  the  Attleboros; 
in  New  England  are  the  largest  shoe  manufacto- 
ries, at  Brockton,  Lynn,  and  Haverhill ;  in  New 
England  are  the  extensive  paper  mills  of  Holyoke, 
and  the  watch  factories  of  Waltham. 

And  then,  how  charming  is  the  style  of  living 
here.  Their  houses  are  very  clean !  "  No  splen- 
dour, no  gilding,  no  troops  of  servants,  rather 
straight-backed  chairs.  But  you  might  eat  off 
the  floors,  and  sit  on  the  stairs.  It 's  primitive, 
it 's  patriarchal.  Their  household  is  wonderfully 
peaceful  and  unspotted,  pervaded  by  a  sort  of 
dove-coloured  freshness  that  has  all  the  quietude 
and  benevolence  of  Puritanism,  and  yet  it  seems 
to  be  founded  upon  a  degree  of  material  abun- 
dance, for  which,  in  certain  matters  of  detail,  one 
might  have  looked  in  vain  at  some  of  the  frugal 
courts  of  German  princes." 


242  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"  In  these  sunny  interiors  live  a  gentle,  tranquil 
people,  and  they  live  simple,  serious  lives." 

"  They  are  not  gay.  They  are  sober,  they  are 
even  severe ;  they  are  of  a  pensive  cast  ;  they 
think  hard  ;  they  have  melancholy  memories,  or 
depressing  expectations." 

"Among  the  old  families,  you  find  tremen- 
dously high-toned  fellows.  They  look  as  if  they 
were  undergoing  martyrdom,  not  only  by  fire, 
but  by  freezing.  They  are  wonderfully  kind  and 
gentle,  they  are  appreciative.  They  think  one 
clever,  they  think  one  remarkable." 

"  Sometimes  they  are  rigid,  but  it  is  a  rigidity 
that  has  liberal  tendencies.  Their  manners  are 
pregnant  with  a  sense  of  great  responsibility,  of 
the  solemnity  of  the  occasion.  They  are  infinitely 
conscientious.  They  discuss  and  analyze  with  a 
great  deal  of  earnestness  and  subtility." 

Life  here  is  perhaps  a  little  dull,  but  it  is 
an  almost  sensual  pleasure. 

I  told  my  American  friends  several  times  that 
I  was  getting  rusty  in  this  country,  but  growing 
better. 

Small  towns  in  New  England  are  so  infinitely 
rural,  but  I  took  a  great  fancy  to  all  their  pastoral 
rudeness. 

And  how  charming  is  this  American  custom  of 


NEW  ENGLAND.  243 

"dropping  in"  among  the  neighbours;  there  are 
no  servants  rushing  forward. 

"  The  Americans  of  the  old  stock  in  New 
England  don't  seem  to  me  to  enjoy  themselves. 
They  have  money,  and  liberty,  and  what  is  called 
in  Europe,  'position,'  but  they  take  a  painful 
view  of  life,  as  one  may  say.  To  enjoy  life,  to 
take  life  without  pain,  it  is  not  necessary  to  do 
anything  wrong.  It  is  not  what  one  does  or  one 
does  not  do  that  promotes  enjoyment,  it  is  the 
general  way  of  looking  on  life.  They  look  at  it 
here  as  a  kind  of  discipline." 

Americans  of  the  old  stock  never  ask  any- 
thing outright  ;  there  seem  to  be  many  things 
which  they  cannot  talk  about.  They  are  exceed- 
ingly polite ;  they  are  discreet,  oh,  how  discreet 
they  are ! 

"  I  should  say  there  is  a  wealth  without  symp- 
toms. A  plain,  homely  way  of  life.  Nothing  for 
show,  and  very  little  for  —  what  shall  I  call  it  ?  — 
for  the  senses,  but  a  great  aisancc,  and  a  lot  of 
money,  out  of  sight,  that  comes  forward  very 
quietly  for  subscriptions  to  institutions,  for 
churches,  for  the  poor,  etc." 

It  will  be  a  more  difficult  task  to  show  that  the 


244  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

far  West  is  the  future,  as  the  Columbian  Fair  is  a 
very  heavy  argument  for  lovers  of  that  section  of 
the  United  States. 

But  they  must  not  forget  that  Chicago's  Fair  is 
not  the  result  of  Western  culture. 

You  must  remember,  also,  that  many  Western 
enterprises  are  conducted  by  Eastern  people  and 
Eastern  capital,  especially  by  New  Englanders. 

Western  people  are  proud  of  the  sudden  growth 
of  such  cities  as  Denver,  Col.,  but  they  forget 
that  in  Colorado  the  most  active  men  are  the 
New  Englanders,  and  that  their  capital  has 
worked  those  Western  wonders. 

The  West  is  colonized,  I  would  dare  say,  almost 
entirely  by  Europeans.  Germans,  Swedes,  Nor- 
wegians, Poles,  Russians,  Dutch,  and  even  the 
French,  who  do  not  like  to  emigrate,  are  attracted 
by  the  mild  climate  of  California. 

The  West  is  more  healthy,  morally,  and  more 
vigorous,  physically.  It  is  the  nature  of  things, 
the  reserve  of  the  future,  the  place  where 
the  primitive  type  grows  and  acquires  renewed 
strength. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

CONCLUSION. 

IS  there  an  American  nation?  If  there  is,  in 
what  does  its  unity  consist  ? 

An  American  author  said  : 

"  The  United  States  is  only  an  institution, 
after  all.  You  could  not  soberly  call  us  a  nation, 
Even  you  could  not  reasonably  be  moved  to  find 
patriotic  phrases  about  your  native  country,  if 
your  ancestors  had  signed  twenty  Declarations  of 
Independence.  We  live  in  a  great  institution 
and  we  have  every  right  to  flatter  ourselves  on 
the  success  of  its  management ;  but,  in  the  long 
run,  this  thing  will  not  do  for  a  nation." 

I  am  sorry  to  differ  with  this  opinion,  but  my 
"impression"  is  that  an  American  nation  cer- 
tainly does  exist,  strong  and  coherent,  without  the 
least  symptom  of  separatism,  without  the  least 
idea  of  division  ;  a  certain  class  of  people  loving 
their  country  dearly,  and  cherishing  it  above  all 
things  else. 

To  be  convinced  of  this,  it  is  sufficient  for  any 

245 


246  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

traveller  in  the  United  States  to  have  his  eyes 
and  his  ears  open.  It  seems  that  the  unity  con- 
sists first  of  all  in  the  native  qualities  and  strong 
traditions  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  recast,  strength- 
ened, made  flexible  and  capable  of  assimilation  ;  a 
surprising  thing,  more  surprising  even  than  the 
survival  of  the  Union  during  the  War  of  Seces- 
sion, is  that  this  nation  has  resisted  the  invasion 
of  innumerable  Irish  and  Germans,  and  the  per- 
petual increase  of  the  black  element. 

She  has  conserved  intact  her  institutions,  she 
has  her  own  character.  She  has  absorbed  the 
tide  which  seemed  to  overflow  her.  And  this  is 
an  extraordinary  phenomenon  when  one  pauses  to 
think  of  it. 

You  can  find  in  the  United  States  large  cities, 
like  New  York  and  Chicago,  composed  for  the 
most  part  of  foreign  elements ;  Washington,  with 
more  than  70,000  negroes  ;  and  yet,  as  the  result,  a 
nation  perfectly  coherent,  which  has  her  charac- 
teristic marks,  which  goes  her  own  way,  always 
ahead,  in  all  parts  at  once,  in  the  same  direction, 
more  or  less  quickly. 

America  is  the  only  country  where,  as  in 
France,  the  qualities  of  different  natures  can  be 
blended,  so  as  to  give  a  unique  and  coherent 
nation. 


CONCLUSION.  247 

It  is  the  East  that  has  colonized  the  West ;  the 
farmers  and  workmen  of  New  England  went  to 
seek  their  fortunes  in  the  far  West  ;  they  were 
replaced  in  the  manufacturing  industries  by  the 
French  Canadians,  on  the  farms  by  Swedes  and 
Germans  ;  finally,  the  East  and  the  North  joined 
in  exploiting  the  mineral  riches  of  the  South. 
One  finds  Yankees  in  the  mines  and  in  the  facto- 
ries and  foundries  of  Alabama,  of  Tennessee,  of 
Virginia,  of  Kentucky. 

The  West  and  South  are  now  in  the  same  posi- 
tion towards  the  East  and  the  North  as  was 
America  towards  England  when  the  United  States 
were  only  colonies. 

In  this  way  the  motion  is  communicated  to  the 
whole  country,  the  accumulated  forces  spread,  and 
the  nation  becomes  bigger  and  evenly  vitalized. 

During  the  police  scandals  in  New  York,  a 
World  reporter,  speaking  about  Mr.  Sheehan,  said 
that  he  is  not  so  beautiful  as  Mr.  Murray,  and  he 
does  not  look  so  intellectual  as  Mr.  Martin,  and 
he  is  not  so  classical  as  General  Kerwin,  but  he 
looks  more  like  an  eagle  than  any  one  of  them. 
He  has  the  bushiest  kind  of  eyebrows,  he  also  has 
a  clean-cut  face,  and  a  defiant  moustache.  He 
has  very  piercing  eyes,  and  altogether  he  looks 


248  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

like  the  best  type  of  an  American  railroad  con- 
ductor. The  best  type  of  railroad  conductors,  by 
the  way,  is  about  the  best  type  of  an  American 
—  except  the  great  men  like  Cleveland,  Tom 
Reed,  Bourke  Cochran. 

Such  is  the  opinion  of  an  American  of  the  best 
type  of  an  American. 

If  we  refer  to  the  lectures  on  human  races  by 
the  German  scholar,  Vogt,  we  shall  find  that  this 
heavy  authority  claims  that  the  type  of  the  Ameri- 
can has  several  marks  of  the  Indian. 

"  Already  in  the  second  generation,"  says  he, 
"  the  features  of  the  American  have  some  likeness 
to  those  of  the  Indian.  After  this  likeness  is 
developed  more  and  more,  the  skin  becomes  stiff 
and  dry,  the  warm  colour  of  the  cheeks  disappears, 
and  gives  way  to  an  earthy  colour  with  the  men, 
and  pale  gray  with  the  women.  The  head  becomes 
small  and  rounded,  and  sometimes  pointed ;  little 
by  little  one  notices  a  stronger  development  of 
the  cheek  bones  and  the  muscles  of  the  jaw ;  the 
temples  become  deeper  and  the  chin  more  promi- 
nent ;  the  eyes  are  more  deeply  set  and  piercing, 
and  even  have  a  savage  expression  ;  the  bones, 
especially  of  the  hand,  become  larger,  so  that  the 
French  and  English  glove  manufacturers  make 
them  with  longer  fingers  for  the  American  trade." 


CONCL  US  ION.  249 

Knox  makes  the  same  remark.  I  am  in  the 
rather  difficult  position  of  being  forced  to  disagree 
with  such  authorities,  but  my  longer  sojourn  in 
this  country  permits  me  to  state  that  this  schol- 
arly description  of  the  American  type  is  rather 
imaginary.  Remembering  it,  I  constantly  looked 
after  this  type  of  Indian  among  the  Americans, 
but  to  my  great  disappointment  I  did  not  find  it. 
Certainly,  here  and  there  you  meet  a  type  which 
you  do  not  find  in  Europe,  especially  men  having 
a  beard  without  a  moustache,  a  style  which  gives 
a  peculiar  aspect  to  the  face,  but  such  men  cannot 
be  considered  as  types  of  the  American.  If  there 
is  any  type,  he  is  a  man  with  strong  bones, 
strong  muscles  and  strong  head  ;  in  a  word,  a  type 
capable  of  fighting,  of  struggling,  since  life  in 
America  is  not  leisure,  but  a  fight  and  a  struggle 
and  work. 

I  would  agree  with  Vogt,  about  the  American 
eyes,  which  are  piercing  and  sometimes  savage,  as 
he  says.  Only  it  has  happened  very  often  that 
the  possessor  of  such  savage  -  looking  eyes  was  a 
very  good  fellow. 

I  am  rather  inclined  to  say  that  there  is  no  type 
in  America,  as  the  American  is  a  combination  of 
all  nationalities,  and,  consequently,  possesses  all 
their  marks  and  characteristics. 


250  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

I  remember  that  I  once  saw  in  some  town  of 
Massachusetts  a  gentleman,  whom  I  would  surely 
take  to  be  a  French  doctor,  as  he  had  long,  black, 
curly  hair,  black  eyes,  and  wore  a  silk  hat,  white 
necktie,  and  black  broadcloth ;  well,  he  was  a 
thorough  American. 

Sometimes  I  have  been  sure  that  a  man  was 
a  German  or  a  Spaniard,  but  I  learned  afterwards 
that  he  was  a  genuine  Yankee. 

Of  the  moral  and  psychological  qualities  of  the 
American  I  have  spoken  already,  but  let  me  refer 
especially  to  his  perseverance. 

The  story  of  Timour  the  Tartar  learning  a 
lesson  of  perseverance  under  adversity,  from  the 
spider,  is  well  known,  and  need  not  to  be  repeated  ; 
but  not  less  interesting  is  the  following  anecdote 
of  Audubon,  the  American  ornithologist  of  French 
origin,  as  related  by  himself : 

"An  accident,"  he  says,  "which  happened  to 
two  hundred  of  my  original  drawings,  nearly  put 
a  stop  to  my  researches  in  ornithology.  I  shall 
relate  it  merely  to  show  how  far  enthusiasm,  for 
by  no  other  name  can  I  call  my  perseverance, 
may  enable  the  preserver  of  nature  to  surmount 
the  most  disheartening  difficulties.  I  left  the 
village  of  Henderson,  in  Kentucky,  situated 


CONCLUSION.  251 

on  the  banks  of  the  Ohio,  where  I  resided  for 
several  years,  to  proceed  to  Philadelphia  on  busi- 
ness. 

"  I  looked  at  my  drawings  before  my  departure, 
placed  them  carefully  in  a  wooden  box,  and  gave 
them  in  charge  of  a  relative,  with  injunctions  to 
see  that  no  injury  should  happen  to  them.  My 
absence  was  of  several  months,  and  when  I  re- 
turned, after  having  enjoyed  the  pleasures  of 
home  for  a  few  days,  I  inquired  after  my  box,  and 
what  I  was  pleased  to  call  my  treasure.  The  box 
was  produced  and  opened  ;  but,  reader,  feel  for 
me,  a  pair  of  Norway  rats  had  taken  possession 
of  the  whole,  and  reared  a  young  family  among 
the  gnawed  bits  of  paper,  which,  but  a  month  pre- 
vious, represented  nearly  a  thousand  inhabitants 
of  the  air ! 

"  The  burning  heat  which  instantly  rushed 
through  my  brain  was  too  great  to  be  endured 
without  affecting  my  whole  nervous  system.  I 
slept  for  several  nights,  and  the  days  passed  like 
days  of  oblivion,  until  the  animal  powers  being 
recalled  into  action,  through  the  strength  of  my 
constitution,  I  took  up  my  gun,  my  note-book, 
and  my  pencils,  and  went  forth  to  the  woods  as 
gaily  as  if  nothing  had  happened.  I  felt  pleased 
that  I  might  now  make  better  drawings  than  be- 


252  A   PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

fore,  and,  ere  a  period  not  exceeding  three  years 
had  elapsed,  my  portfolio  was  again  filled." 

Such  is  the  perseverance  of  an  American  in  any 
direction. 

Too  many  inventions  in  the  United  States  are 
the  result  of  perseverance  in  the  hope  of  making  a 
fortune.  The  ambition  to  become  rich  is  the  most 
praiseworthy  quality  here ;  the  ability  to  make 
money  the  most  desirable  gift.  This  is  so  true 
that  a  friend  of  mine,  a  rather  cultivated  citizen, 
spoke  with  some  disgust  of  Daniel  Webster,  the 
glory  of  this  country,  because  he  was  not  rich, 
and,  having  his  head  full  of  sublime  ideas,  did  not 
care  about  the  material  circumstances  of  his  life. 
Why,  nobody  in  our  country  would  think,  in 
speaking  of  Mirabeau,  to  blame  him  because  he 
was  always  in  debt.  And  we  admire  his  genius 
in  spite  of  such  little  things  as  financial  troubles. 

What  does  it  matter  to  humanity  ?  What  does 
it  matter  to  the  United  States  that  the  friends 
of  Daniel  Webster  were  obliged  to  look  out  for 
his  needs,  and  provide  him  with  the  ordinary 
necessities  of  life  ? 

I  was  told  that  it  was  Franklin  who  laid  down 
this  well-known  precept,  which  has  become  almost 
a  national  commandment : 


CONCL  USION.  253 

"  Get  money,  my  son ;  honestly,  if  you  can,  but 
get  money." 

If  it  is  true  that  this  great  American  said  this, 
then  he  spoiled  by  it  all  the  beauty  of  his  other- 
wise healthy  philosophy. 

The  American  people  need  an  ideal,  an  ideal 
more  elevated  than  riches  and  material  happiness. 
All  of  this  active  people,  merchants,  farmers, 
workmen,  speak  only  of  their  business,  of  things 
that  "pay,"  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  idealism 
is  found  in  America  only  in  the  ambition  to  make 
big  things,  in  seeking  after  the  gigantic,  but 
always  in  a  material  direction. 

"But  the  world,"  says  Marion  Crawford,  "is 
not  ruled  by  intellect,  though  it  is  sometimes 
governed  by  brute  force  and  yet  more  brutal 
passions.  The  dominant  power  in  the  affairs  of 
men  is  the  heart.  Humanity  is  moved  far  more 
by  what  it  feels  than  by  what  it  knows,  and  those 
who  would  be  rulers  of  men  must,  before  all 
things,  be  men  themselves,  and  not  merely  highly 
finished  intellectual  machines." 

So  long  as  this  country  possesses  writers  with 
such  high  thoughts,  the  Americans  can  look  to 
the  future  with  confidence. 

If  the  friends  of  the  American  people  have  a 


254  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

right  to  be  uneasy  in  thinking  of  its  future,  the 
most  profound  impression  of  a  foreigner,  who 
stays  for  some  time  in  this  country,  is  that  this 
nation  feels  perfectly  happy,  vigorous,  and  healthy, 
that  it  is  filled  with  hope  and  faith  in  the  future. 
Faith  moves  mountains ;  the  Americans  have 
accomplished  some  prodigious  things.  They  will 
accomplish  more,  because,  perhaps,  they  believe 
in  their  star. 

Yes,  I  believe  with  Professor  Levasseur,  who, 
as  a  representative  of  the  Academy  of  Moral  and 
Political  Sciences,  visited  this  country,  and,  in  his 
address  at  the  annual  Congres  dcs  Socittes 
Savant es,  said  that,  notwithstanding  all  the  actual 
difficulties  in  this  country,  Le  gtnie  de  Diomme 
saum  triompher.  His  scholarly,  generous  breadth 
of  view,  allowing  with  critical  nicety  for  tempor- 
arily depressed  conditions,  is  in  happy  contrast 
with  the  letter  of  a  London  banker,  Mr.  Cross,  to 
the  London  Times.  In  the  eyes  of  the  English 
critic,  all  America  was  doomed  because  of  the 
lack  of  English  influence,  and  because  of  English 
losses  in  American  speculation.  How  charming 
is  this  motherly  interest  (should  I  say  usury?) 
which  England  takes  in  other  countries ! 

A    great    country,    is    it     not  ?    almost     every 


CONCLUSION.  255 

American  will  ask  you,  in  half  exclamation,  when 
speaking  of  the  United  States. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  great  country,  so  far  as  dimen- 
sions, population,  natural  riches,  push,  work,  and 
prosperity  are  concerned. 

But  let  us  be  frank  without  being  rough,  with- 
out prejudice,  without  exaggeration,  and  let  us 
see  if  the  United  States  is  a  great  country,  if  we 
take  into  consideration  those  elements  which  con- 
stitute the  fame  of  a  country. 

While  speaking  of  art,  we  saw  that  the  artists 
are  working  in  the  field  of  French  and  German 
art ;  the  architects  borrow  not  only  the  ideas,  but 
almost  the  total  composition  of  their  best  build- 
ings from  Europe.  The  Art  Interchange,  describ- 
ing the  new  mansion  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  in 
New  York,  says  : 

"  Studied  closer,  we  see  that  it  is  the  Chateau  de  Blois 
that  has  been  Mr.  Post's  model.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of 
mention,  that  so  careful  was  the  architect,  in  this  particu- 
lar, to  insure  a  close  adherence  to  the  spirit  of  the  style 
adopted,  that  he  had  plaster  casts  taken  of  portions  of  the 
exquisite  sculptured  stone  ornaments  at  Blois,  and  brought 
over  to  New  York  as  models  for  the  stonecutters  to  work 
from." 

And  then,  describing  the  interior,  the  critic 
continues : 


256  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

"  Europe  has  been  hunted  for  the  rarest  products. 
Many  of  the  ceilings  were  painted  by  celebrated  French 
artists.  A  Parisian  firm  made  the  carpets  and  most  of  the 
furniture  from  specially  prepared  designs.  Nearly  all  the 
interior  decorative  features  were  made  abroad." 


If  we  go  to  the  field  of  industry,  we  find  the 
same  phenomenon. 

The  designs  for  A-merican  ginghams  are  copied 
from  the  Scotch  ginghams,  or  made  by  Scotch, 
Belgian,  and  French  draughtsmen. 

American  carpets  are  imitations  of  English  and 
Belgian  carpets. 

If  you  want  good  linen  in  this  country,  they 
offer  you  Irish  or  Holland  linen. 

If  you  ask  for  the  best  silk,  they  give  you  the 
production  of  Lyons. 

Ask  for  the  best  ladies'  hats  or  dresses,  they 
will  show  you  French  articles. 

The  best  driving  gloves  are  English,  and  the 
best  dress  gloves  are  French. 

When  you  buy  furniture  they  show  you  French 
plate  glass. 

Go  to  a  good  tailor,  he  will  immediately  recom- 
mend to  you  an  English  cheviot  or  a  French 
broadcloth  as  the  best. 

If  you  wish  to  have  fine  china  you  are  obliged 


CONCLUSION.  257 

to  buy  the  china  of  Sevres,  of  Limoges,  of  Saxe, 
and  even  of  Berlin. 

Try  to  get  good  wine,  and  they  will  serve  you 
Bordeaux,  Bourgogne,  Johannisberg,  Tokay ;  and 
even  if  they  serve  California  wine  they  will  baptise 
it  with  a  French  name. 

Even  whiskey, — laugh,  if  you  like,  —  but  for 
the  best  they  will  serve  you  Scotch  whiskey. 

If  you  want  a  good  cook,  you  must  have  a 
Frenchman  ;  a  good  coachman  or  good  butler,  a 
Frenchman,  or  a  Johnny  Bull. 

There  remains  for  you  only  the  field  of  machin- 
ery, in  which  the  American  people  are  without  a 
rival.  I  am  afraid  that  in  the  material  world  that 
it  is  all. 

As  to  the  "wonders  of  the  age,"  after  you  have 
seen  Brooklyn  Bridge,  Niagara  Falls,  and  Yellow- 
stone Park,  you  have  seen  the  most  remarkable 
things. 

But  if  you  pass  to  the  moral  and  psychological 
world,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  American  peo- 
ple, taken  as  a  whole,  are  the  most  honest  and  the 
kindest  people,  and  the  United  States  is  the  first 
and  greatest  country  for  individual  respect  and 
personal  dignity. 


258  A    PARISIAN  IN  AMERICA. 

A  sojourn  in  this  country  and  a  study  of  a  cer- 
tain class  of  Americans,  especially  those  who  live 
in  small  cities,  towns,  and  villages,  a  study  of 
their  methods  of  work,  a  study  of  certain  sound 
principles  inculcated  in  their  lives,  a  study  of  the 
brotherly  love  shown  in  their  deeds,  is  of  great 
advantage  to  a  European,  and  of  immense  interest 
to  a  thinking  man. 

The  psychological  field  is  so  large;  the  study  of 
the  American  soul  is  so  interesting ;  the  observa- 
tion of  their  civilization,  so  different  from  ours,  is 
so  fascinating ;  the  breadth  of  their  ways,  which 
look  rough  to  us,  but  which,  in  fact,  are  cor- 
dial and  sincere,  is  so  salubrious  in  strengthen- 
ing our  nerves,  which  have  become  too  delicate 
after  ten  centuries  of  refinement,  that,  after  all, 
one  comes  to  love  this  country ;  and  I  should  not 
be  surprised,  if,  when  I  return  to  old  Europe,  I 
shall  long  for  the  cordial  and  vigorous  handshakes 
of  my  American  friends,  for  their  discreet  but  sin- 
cere sentiments,  for  those  neat  houses,  full  of 
interior  light  and  surrounded  by  green  lawns  as 
soft  as  Oriental  carpets,  for  this  glorious,  sunny 
New  England  autumn,  for  this  life  of  energy  and 
activity,  life  which  among  this  kind  people  is  like 
a  return  to  nature,  to  the  golden  age ;  then  I  shall 
sing  with  Childe  Harold : 


CONCL  US  ION.  259 

"  Adieu !  adieu  !  .  .  .  shore 
Fades  o'er  the  waters  blue ; 
The  night  winds  sigh,  the  breakers  roar, 
And  shrieks  the  wild  sea-mew. 
Yon  sun  that  sets  upon  the  sea 
We  follow  in  his  flight ; 
Farewell  awhile  to  him  and  thee, 
„  .  .  land,  good-night !  " 


Finished  at  Maple  Circle,  Newton, 
Mass.,  the  twenty -seventh  day  of 
March,  eighteen  hundred  ninety-six. 


University  of  California 

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